NURSING HOME SAFETY DURING COVID: CASES & VACCINES

Cases drop by 80 percent after mass vaccinations, but 400+ homes report first cases in 2021 after none in 2020

Hundreds of U.S. nursing homes this year are reporting their very first cases of COVID-19 after avoiding any cases all of last year. That 437 nursing homes experienced their very first cases of COVID this year — while fending them off during the horror of 2020 — is among the clear indications that this pandemic isn’t over.

Maryland PIRG Foundation and Frontier Group

Hundreds of U.S. nursing homes this year are reporting their very first cases of COVID-19 after avoiding any cases all of last year. That 437 nursing homes experienced their very first cases of COVID this year — while fending them off during the horror of 2020 — is among the clear indications that this pandemic isn’t over.

There are many reasons for optimism, particularly the huge turnaround that started in the second half of December when vaccines started rolling out. Our research found that the vaccine rollout led to a decline in nursing home cases exceeding 80 percent. But this is not a time to act irresponsibly or get overly confident.

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