Nursing home COVID-19 cases increase fourfold in peak states

WASHINGTON (AP) – Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to erect a protective shield around nursing homes, coronavirus cases are increasing in facilities in states hard hit by the latest COVID-19 attack.

Analysis of federal data from 20 states for The Associated Press reveals that weekly new cases among residents nearly quadrupled from late May to late October, from 1,083 to 4,274. Resident deaths more than doubled , from 318 per week to 699, according to the study by University of Chicago health researchers Rebecca Gorges and Tamara Konetzka.

Equally concerning, weekly cases among nursing home staff in peak states more than quadrupled, from 855 in the week ending May 31 to 4,050 in the week ending October 25. the virus enters the facilities. When these involuntary employees test positive, they are left out of resident care, increasing pressure on remaining staff.

The administration allocated $ 5 billion to nursing homes, shipped nearly 14,000 rapid test machines to supply every facility, and attempted to consolidate inventories of protective equipment. But the data calls into question the White House’s broader game plan, which pushes states to reopen while maintaining that vulnerable people can be cocooned, even as the virus bounces around them.

“Trying to protect nursing home residents without controlling the spread of the community is a losing battle,” said Konetzka, a nationally recognized expert in long-term care. “Someone has to take care of the vulnerable nursing home residents, and these caregivers come in and out of the nursing home every day, making it easy for the virus to get in.”

The country is setting records for coronavirus cases as the cold season approaches, as many experts expect the virus to be harder to contain. The seven-day moving average of new daily cases stood at nearly 104,000 on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities make up about 1% of the U.S. population, but account for 40% of deaths from COVID-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

At Fort Dodge, a manufacturing and transportation hub in north-central Iowa, Julie Thorson said she knew she was going to have a bad week when several employees at the Friendship Haven nursing home were tested. positive last Monday. As chairman of the elderly community, Thorson contacted the county health department. “They basically weren’t surprised because they saw him all over the county,” she said.

Residents have also started to test positive. The facility had 11 new cases among residents as of Friday.

“I thought all night long about what was worse, getting knocked and not knowing what you were getting into, or to prepare, prepare and prepare, then get knocked,” she said.

In response to the study’s results, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a statement saying, “The bottom line is that the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing homes is complex and multifactorial.

The agency noted different ways the administration has worked to help nursing homes and said its goal now is to ensure residents and staff have “immediate” access to a vaccine once approved. But he also added that establishments “bear the primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of their residents”.

“Many times the likely causes of outbreaks in nursing homes are simply nursing homes failing to follow basic infection control rules,” the statement said.

But Konetzka said his research has shown that the quality of nursing homes does not have a significant effect on cases and deaths once community spread is taken into account. “It’s not like high quality establishments have figured out how to do things better,” she says. Other academic experts have come to similar conclusions.

Highly rated by Medicare, St. Paul Elder Services in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, has recorded 72 cases of COVID-19 among residents and 74 among staff, according to its Facebook page. The first case among residents was on Aug. 19 and 15 have died, facility president Sondra Norder said.

“The results are really not much different here than they were in New York City at the start of the pandemic,” Norder said. “It has been called the perfect killing machine for the elderly, especially those who live in collective premises.” Kaukauna is a small town about 160 km north of Milwaukee.

The study, based on data reported by nursing homes to the government, also raised other concerns:

– For the week ending October 25, about 1 in 6 nursing homes in peak states did not report testing staff in the previous week. Government requirements require staff to test at least once a week in areas where the virus is spreading.

– During the same period, nearly one in five nursing homes reported a shortage of basic protective supplies such as masks and gowns.

– Almost one in four establishments reported a nursing shortage.

Most of the states in the study are in the mid and northern levels of the country.

The Commons, an elderly community in Enid, Oklahoma that includes a nursing home, is in a coronavirus hotspot. The oil and gas hub shows a positive rate approaching 18%. A local mask mandate has been repealed twice, said Steven Walkingstick, CEO of The Commons.

“From my perspective, unfortunately a warrant is needed,” Walkingstick said. “I don’t want the government involved, but the evidence has shown that we are not going to do it voluntarily.

Walkingstick said he believes the United States has been more successful in saving the lives of patients with COVID-19, but not preventing the virus from entering nursing homes.

Thorson, manager of the Fort Dodge facility, said it took a lot of effort to try and keep the virus at bay, and it was demoralizing to see it break through.

“Don’t forget us, because we are always here, doing our best in rural areas,” she said.

The 20 states analyzed in the study were Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming. They were selected because they now see their highest hospitalization rates for COVID-19.