SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A resident of the Emerald Court senior living community in Anaheim, California receives a Covid-19 vaccination on January 8, 2021. (Photo: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
New Covid-19 Cases Plummet 96% in Nursing Homes After Vaccinations: Report
"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."
Mar 30, 2021
New Covid-19 cases have plummeted by 96% in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities since late December, a report published Tuesday by the industry group American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living revealed.
AHCA/NCAL reports (pdf) a decline in new U.S. weekly nursing home cases from 33,540 on December 20 to 1,349 on March 7, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Widespread coronavirus vaccinations began in early January, when new nursing home cases dropped precipitously.
The inudstry groups also said there has been a 91% decline in coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes, dropping from over 6,000 in December to 547 this month.
"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 AHCA/NCAL, in a statement.
"This trend shows that when long-term care is prioritized, as with the national vaccine rollout, we can protect our vulnerable elderly population," Parkinson added. "Now we need Congress to prioritize our nursing homes for the long term by considering the initiatives in the Care For Our Seniors Act to improve the quality of care for our residents."
The Care For Our Seniors Act--written by AHCA and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of nonprofit aging services providers--would enhance critical care in nursing homes, provide increased support to frontline caregivers, improve oversight, and modernize resident dignity and safety, its proponents say.
U.S. nursing homes have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the AARP's nursing home dashboard, more than 174,000 residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died of Covid-19--nearly a third of all U.S. deaths from the virus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
On Monday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she felt a sense of "impending doom" over rising coronavirus infections following state leaders' premature moves to relax or completely lift pandemic-related restrictions.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
New Covid-19 cases have plummeted by 96% in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities since late December, a report published Tuesday by the industry group American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living revealed.
AHCA/NCAL reports (pdf) a decline in new U.S. weekly nursing home cases from 33,540 on December 20 to 1,349 on March 7, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Widespread coronavirus vaccinations began in early January, when new nursing home cases dropped precipitously.
The inudstry groups also said there has been a 91% decline in coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes, dropping from over 6,000 in December to 547 this month.
"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 AHCA/NCAL, in a statement.
"This trend shows that when long-term care is prioritized, as with the national vaccine rollout, we can protect our vulnerable elderly population," Parkinson added. "Now we need Congress to prioritize our nursing homes for the long term by considering the initiatives in the Care For Our Seniors Act to improve the quality of care for our residents."
The Care For Our Seniors Act--written by AHCA and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of nonprofit aging services providers--would enhance critical care in nursing homes, provide increased support to frontline caregivers, improve oversight, and modernize resident dignity and safety, its proponents say.
U.S. nursing homes have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the AARP's nursing home dashboard, more than 174,000 residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died of Covid-19--nearly a third of all U.S. deaths from the virus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
On Monday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she felt a sense of "impending doom" over rising coronavirus infections following state leaders' premature moves to relax or completely lift pandemic-related restrictions.
New Covid-19 cases have plummeted by 96% in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities since late December, a report published Tuesday by the industry group American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living revealed.
AHCA/NCAL reports (pdf) a decline in new U.S. weekly nursing home cases from 33,540 on December 20 to 1,349 on March 7, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Widespread coronavirus vaccinations began in early January, when new nursing home cases dropped precipitously.
The inudstry groups also said there has been a 91% decline in coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes, dropping from over 6,000 in December to 547 this month.
"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 AHCA/NCAL, in a statement.
"This trend shows that when long-term care is prioritized, as with the national vaccine rollout, we can protect our vulnerable elderly population," Parkinson added. "Now we need Congress to prioritize our nursing homes for the long term by considering the initiatives in the Care For Our Seniors Act to improve the quality of care for our residents."
The Care For Our Seniors Act--written by AHCA and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of nonprofit aging services providers--would enhance critical care in nursing homes, provide increased support to frontline caregivers, improve oversight, and modernize resident dignity and safety, its proponents say.
U.S. nursing homes have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the AARP's nursing home dashboard, more than 174,000 residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died of Covid-19--nearly a third of all U.S. deaths from the virus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
On Monday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she felt a sense of "impending doom" over rising coronavirus infections following state leaders' premature moves to relax or completely lift pandemic-related restrictions.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.