COVID cases fall 82% in nursing homes; vaccination will help thwart variants, advocates say
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 03, 2021
The steep drop in coronavirus cases over seven weeks is a sign that vaccinations are working and are the key to a normalized life for residents, the AHCA/NCAL says.
Nonprofit tapped by Congress invests $11M to boost vaccination rates among long-term care workers
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 15, 2021
The studies will compare methods of encouraging vaccine uptake. One will recruit 6,000 workers at 30 long-term care facilities in Washington state and Georgia. The other, at Dartmouth College, will recruit...
Fauci: U.S. to quickly prioritize the most vulnerable for COVID-19 booster shots
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 06, 2021
With this week’s COVID-19 cases up 43% and deaths rising, the United States is working to swiftly approve vaccine booster shots for people with weakened immune systems, federal health officials said...
The pain of being human
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 13, 2022
With COVID-19 variants still punching long-term care staff in the face every day, it’s understandable for us to sometimes lose the ability to get our arms around the sheer scope of collective sadness...
If walls could talk
By
Jessica Green
Dec 21, 2020
Long-term care communities have been on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning, and they have the most at stake in finding ways to detect a case — or an outbreak — immediately,...
Unvaccinated residents had triple rate of COVID in Kentucky nursing home’s March outbreak: CDC
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 22, 2021
Vaccinated nursing home residents and staff members appeared to have a distinct advantage during a recent COVID-19 outbreak, agency investigators found.
COVID deaths now ‘entirely preventable’ due to vaccines, CDC director says
By
Alicia Lasek
Jun 24, 2021
High vaccine efficacy in the United States means that “every death due to COVID-19 is particularly tragic because nearly every death, especially among adults … [is] entirely preventable,”...
This season’s flu vaccinations linked to lower COVID-19 likelihood, severity
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 24, 2021
People who received a flu vaccination were 24% less likely to test positive for COVID-19. And those who did contract the disease had a less severe course when compared with people who didn’t get a flu...
CNA workforce at a breaking point
By
Lori Porter
Jan 29, 2021
COVID-19 is now responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 residents and staff in the 15,000 nursing homes in this country. I’ve been in this field 40 years —as a certified nursing assistant,...
All nursing home staff in Massachusetts must get COVID-19 shots
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 05, 2021
The state is requiring staff and contract employees in all of its 378 facilities to receive a vaccination, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday.