Health Team

Outbreaks at nursing homes shine light on disparate staff, resident vaccination rates

About 80% of long term residents in North Carolina facilities are vaccinated but only 54% of workers are.

Posted Updated

By
Ali Ingersoll
, WRAL Investigative Data Journalist
RALEIGH, N.C. — There are 111 North Carolina nursing homes experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks as of Friday. That number has advocates and nursing home family members on high alert.

"I can only imagine what's going to happen to congregate care settings if the Delta variant gets in and start spreading like a wildfire like COVID-19 did last year," said Lauren Zingraff, the executive director of Friends of Residents in Long Term Care, an advocacy organization.

As the Delta variant spreads and cases across the state increase, outbreaks inside nursing homes are trending upward.

Zingraff's concerns are reflected in how quickly the number of outbreaks in facilities escalated. On July 15, there were 39 nursing homes experiencing outbreaks, defined by the state as "as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases." Now, at 111, that nearly tripled in a month.

Unlike the general public, it’s impossible for residents to avoid the virus, Zingraff said.

"This is where they live 24 hours a day," the resident advocate told WRAL News. "They are trusting that the staff that is taking care of them are protecting them and are putting their needs first."

Zingraff says the current outbreaks are a result of unvaccinated staff. Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows about 80% of long term residents in North Carolina facilities are vaccinated but only 54% of workers are. Both those numbers are below the national averages - residents are at 82.4% while staff is at 60%, according to the most recent information.

A closer analysis of the data shows only 21%, which is 90 of North Carolina's long term care facilities have reached 70% or more of staff being vaccinated. But most of the nursing home sites, 82% of them, have surpassed that mark when it comes to resident vaccination rates.

Even though most of the people living there are vaccinated, Zingraff says due to underlying issues or their age, that population remains at risk.

"It is very dangerous to have unvaccinated staff going into the facility every day among our most medically fragile population," said Zingraff. "At this point, it is a matter of life or death."

Some sites around the state have once again had to close their doors to visitors given how many people are testing positive for COVID.

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