Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have seen precipitous drops in new COVID-19 cases and deaths since the vaccine campaign began in December.
Weekly cases of COVID-19 in nursing homes dropped from 33,540 on Dec. 20 to 1,349 on March 7, a decline of 96%, according to a report from the industry group American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living.
During that same period, weekly coronavirus deaths related to long-term care facilities fell 91%, from 6,037 to 547.
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“We are not out of the woods yet, but these numbers are incredibly encouraging and a major morale booster for frontline caregivers who have been working tirelessly for more than a year to protect our residents,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the group. “This trend shows that when long term care is prioritized, as with the national vaccine rollout, we can protect our vulnerable elderly population.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to residents and staff at long-term care facilities. Of those, over 2.8 million have been fully vaccinated.
Previous research from AHCA/NCAL suggested that cases began to fall in nursing homes after residents and staff had received only the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
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Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have been hard hit by the pandemic, with an estimated 174,000 deaths among residents and staff. The vaccination campaign appears to have turned that around. In early March, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lifted most restrictions on visitations to nursing homes.
