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COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in U.S. nursing homes have increased sharply in recent months, a new AARP analysis of federal data shows. Infection rates increased roughly sevenfold
among residents and eightfold among staff between mid-April and mid-July, while resident death rates tripled. As the virus spreads, uptake of COVID-19 boosters has stagnated, leaving some
300,000 nursing home residents and about a million workers without crucial protection. “Nothing — case rates, death rates, booster coverage — is really trending in the right direction,” says
Susan Reinhard, vice president of AARP’s Public Policy Institute and coauthor of the analysis, “and it’s very concerning for this still very vulnerable population.” In the four weeks ending
July 17, one in every 27 nursing home residents tested positive for COVID-19, along with one staff member for every 22 residents, the analysis shows. That’s up from around one resident case
and one staff case for every 200 residents in the four weeks ending April 17. Weekly data from the analysis also showed that the number of infections grew with each week of the four-week
reporting period, the most recent in AARP’s ongoing monthly analysis of federal nursing home data. “It suggests that the current surge has not yet peaked, and impacts are continuing to
increase,” says AARP’s Ari Houser, a senior methods adviser and coauthor of the analysis. CHECK THE VACCINATION RATES OF YOUR NURSING HOME You can find the vaccination and first (but not
second) booster rates of both residents and staff at any Medicare-certified nursing home, and compare them with state and national averages, on Medicare.gov’s Care Compare website. 1. Find
a nursing home’s profile via the home page’s search function. 2. Visit the Details tab on its profile. 3. Click the View COVID-19 Vaccination Rates button. Cases were widespread, with
more than three-quarters of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes reporting a worker infection and nearly half reporting a resident infection. Deaths were also up, the analysis found,
tripling between mid-April and mid-July. In the four weeks ending in mid-July, about one in every 1,300 residents died from COVID-19, totaling more than 850 residents nationwide. That’s a
decrease in deaths since omicron’s winter surge, when roughly 4,000 residents died during the four weeks ended mid-February, but a big jump from the four-week period ending in mid-April,
when roughly 300 residents died. Like infections, COVID-19 deaths also rose with each week of the four-week period, suggesting further climbs in future weeks.