coronavirus - nursing homes

The nursing home COVID-19 death toll jumped by nearly 1,300 in the last week, as the Ohio Department of Health added in 4,000 unaccounted-for deaths to the state’s running total. But with lower overall statewide case numbers and vaccines, visits to nursing homes are allowed and even being encouraged.

More than half of the state’s COVID-19 deaths coming from nursing homes. So those and other long term care facilities are getting a lot of attention in the new state budget.

More than half of nursing home workers have refused the vaccine but at least one Ohio nursing home is beating the odds.

4,856 Ohioans in nursing homes and long term care facilities have died of COVID-19, well over half of the state’s overall COVID death total. Gov. Mike DeWine has said the virus has often been brought in by staff, and yet a huge number of those workers has not taken the vaccine.

The first COVID-19 vaccines for residents and staff at nursing homes and long-term care facilities are being shot into arms around Ohio today - the vaccine administered before sunrise at a nursing home in Columbus.

More than 30,000 nursing home residents in Ohio have tested positive for COVID19 since April. And nearly 21,000 nursing home workers have tested positive during the same period. Advocates for those workers say that situation is worsening.

Ohio’s nursing homes don’t have enough personal protective equipment to last another week. That’s the finding from a federal agency that deals with Medicare and Medicaid services. 

The nation’s nursing homes lobbying group has written to Ohio’s Mike DeWine and other governors, warning that without action now there will be more outbreaks, especially if visitors are allowed back in to see loved ones after months away.

Nearly three quarters of all confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Ohio have been in nursing homes. Ohio National Guard personnel have been helping with testing in long term care facilities, but the funding for them to continue that and other pandemic related missions runs out in a month.

Ohio is taking the first steps to lift the more than two month old ban on visits to some long-term care facilities. Officials says they want to expand this in stages.

Residents at long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, make up more than three-quarters of the deaths related to COVID-19 in Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine says he is now ramping up efforts to combat this problem with a new strategy.

Ohio National Guard members have been performing a variety of duties during the COVID19 pandemic. But the roles of members are changing a bit as time progresses.

More than three quarters of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Ohio have come from nursing homes. This week’s total is a 30% increase from a week ago.

There have been at least 674 deaths from coronavirus at nursing homes in Ohio, which is 43% of the state’s confirmed COVID-19 deaths. After saying for weeks that nursing home residents who have symptoms are tested but limitations prevented mass testing, there’s a plan for more tests in long-term care facilities.

The state has now added deaths from COVID-19 in nursing homes to its coronavirus tracking website – confirming that nearly 300 people have died of the disease in those facilities.

Mass testing in three Ohio prisons has turned up 3,853 coronavirus cases among inmates and 379 prison workers, showing how fast the virus can spread in congregate settings. Now the state’s long term care providers are hoping for the same thing in more than a thousand nursing homes, assisted living communities and other facilities.

The state has taken down its list of COVID-19 cases in long term care facilities on its website, which came after an order that required those facilities to report positive cases to families within 24 hours. But Gov. Mike DeWine says the change is only temporary.

UPDATE: The state is now listing 811 cases of COVID-19 at 106 nursing homes in 31 counties.

Nine percent of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ohio are in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living communities – and some residents and staff are among the dead. The state says it will shed light on more information about that, but some data will stay hidden.

Gov. Mike DeWine has announced a new public health order requiring nursing homes to notify the public about cases of COVID-19 at their facilities.

Nearly a dozen people at a nursing home in Washington died from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. Nursing homes throughout Ohio are being urged to take precautions to prevent coronavirus in their facilities so that doesn’t happen here.