Nursing homes see new rise in coronavirus cases, report says. What’s happening?
Nursing homes saw a jump in coronavirus infections after weeks of declining case counts, a new report finds.
Cases tied to care facilities surged from late June to July, when they reached a new high, the American Health Care Association said. A growing portion of affected nursing homes were in southern and western states, findings published Monday show.
The regions, sometimes collectively called the Sun Belt, increasingly saw COVID-19 hotspots around the same time period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the time, some states had relaxed coronavirus-related restrictions and ramped up efforts to test for the disease, McClatchy News reported.
The recent increase in nursing home coronavirus cases is “due to community spread in Sun Belt states,” the American Health Care Association said in its report. Many hotspots had previously been in the Northeast.
On May 31, about 32% of nursing home infections were in the South and West, data show. Two months later, that figure jumped to 78%.
Also, coronavirus-related deaths tied to care facilities have been increasingly reported in the Sun Belt, according to the report.
Across the United States, the American Health Care Association said nursing homes had 9,421 confirmed cases of the virus as of May 31.
The count dipped as low as 5,480 in late June before rising back up to 9,715 on July 26. That figure, a new peak, was the latest one available in the report.
To come up with its findings, the American Health Care Association said it analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The figures it shared went back to May 31.
The American Health Care Association “advocates for quality care and services for frail, elderly, and disabled Americans,” according to its website.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit nursing homes hard, with major outbreaks reported nationwide. The CDC encourages facilities to develop plans to limit visitors, test residents and allow sick staff members to stay home.
“Given their congregate nature and resident population served (e.g., older adults often with underlying chronic medical conditions), nursing home populations are at high risk of being affected by respiratory pathogens like COVID-19,” the CDC says.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 7:53 AM with the headline "Nursing homes see new rise in coronavirus cases, report says. What’s happening?."
