Covid cases and deaths saw a dramatic jump in August, following a pattern of consistent increases over the summer.
This is according to the latest data issued Thursday by the AARP Nursing Home Covid-19 Dashboard, which tracks monthly data on the number of Covid cases, Covid-related deaths and vaccination records.
“After months of decline from the winter peak, the rate of Covid-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes are rising again,” AARP’s report stated. August’s uptick in cases marks the highest rate since March.
During the four weeks ending on Aug. 20, the rate of Covid-19 resident deaths increased by 80% compared to four weeks in July. Meanwhile, during this time, the rate of Covid-19 resident cases and staff cases more than doubled compared to the previous four weeks. And, about 1 in 47 residents contracted Covid-19, which is up from about 1 in 100 the previous four weeks.
Moreover, about 1 in 4 nursing homes, or 24%, had a resident infection and more than 1 in 3, or 36%, had a staff case.
AARP’s dashboard provides four-week snapshots of the virus’ spread into nursing homes as well as its impact on residents and staff. AARP’s dashboard has tracked five categories of impact since summer 2020.
Covid’s spread in August marked nine consecutive weeks of increasing resident cases and 11 consecutive weeks of rising staff cases.
“This trend follows the pattern observed during 2020-2022. Each year, there was a late summer/early fall peak in August or September,” the AARP dashboard report noted.
Some states bucked the national trend. While the rate of Covid resident deaths increased in 36 states, 13 states showed a decline. Meanwhile, the rate of resident cases increased in 45 states and declined in six, and the rate of staff cases increased in all but two states, the report noted.
Vaccination rates also remained low during August. “[U]tilization has been much lower than for the initial vaccination series and first booster shot in 2021,” the report said.
Nationally, as of late August, about 62% of residents were up to date with the bivalent booster, while only 25% of health care staff were up to date with the bivalent booster, and 1 in 7, or 14%, were not vaccinated at all. And about 500,000 residents and 1.5 million staff are still not up to date on vaccinations.
The AARP analysis is based on data posted on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Nursing Home Covid-19 Public File.
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