Health Team

Nursing homes seeing uptick in COVID-19 cases due to unvaccinated staff

The majority of North Carolina residents 65 and older are vaccinated against coronavirus, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Nursing home officials say those vaccinated residents are not the one spreading the virus.

Posted Updated

By
Adam Owens
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Long-term care facilities in the Triangle have started to see an uptick in coronavirus cases, state data shows, but it’s not the residents spreading the virus.

Most North Carolina residents 65 and older, a group that corresponds with the residents of long-term care, are vaccinated against coronavirus, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

"The majority of the COVID-19 outbreaks that we are seeing right now are related to unvaccinated staff members bringing in COVID-19," said Lauren Zingraff, executive director with Friends of Residents in Long-Term Care.

"That is causing the COVID-19 outbreaks, even though the residents are full vaccinated," she said.

Adam Sholar, CEO of the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association, said in a statement that there has been a slow uptick in the number of coronavirus cases among nursing home residents, but the number of people who die from the virus still remains low.

Around 60% of North Carolina nursing home staff are vaccinated, he said. Sholar said that this percentage is higher than nursing homes in other southern states, like Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

Across Wake County, 21 nursing home and residential care facilities are reporting a coronavirus outbreak. An outbreak is defined as two or more people who test positive for the virus at the same location. Among those 21 facilities there are 65 coronavirus cases total.

Sholar said that cases are higher among nursing home facilities in areas with higher COVID-19 community spread.

Nursing home facilities with outbreaks must halt visitations until residents and staff can be tested to be sure the virus has not spread.

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