According to AARP’s nursing home dashboard in the four-week period ending August 22nd resident COVID cases increased by 463 and staff cases more than a thousand from the previous four-week period and deaths went from 3 to 49. AARP Louisiana Associate Director of Advocacy Andrew Muhl said the numbers mirror that of the state during the same time period.
“What we are hoping is that we’ve plateaued and that cases will begin to level out, but we still need to be urging folks to get vaccinated and if not, we could see another surge possibly at a later point this year,” said Muhl.
Muhl said the vaccination rate among nursing home residents in Louisiana is 82.5%, and for staff, it’s 47.9% as of August 22nd.
“But that is much lower than the national averages and Louisiana continues to be one of the worst states in the country, not just with cases but also with vaccination rates,” said Muhl.
The national average vaccination rate among nursing home residents is 84% and staff is 64%.
The dashboard reporting period ended several days before Hurricane Ida made landfall and after a large evacuation among seven nursing home residents in southeast Louisiana, Muhl said they fear the COVID numbers could worsen among nursing homes.
“So, I don’t want to speculate on what the case numbers will be, be we are certainly concerned about it,” said Muhl.
AARP said they are hopeful more staff will be vaccinated once the national mandate goes into effect.
To view the AARP Dashboard, click here.
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