COVID-19 cases surged in nursing homes amid omicron, but not deaths
The number of Wisconsin nursing home residents dying from COVID-19 has remained relatively low, despite a surge in omicron cases that recently buffeted nursing homes and is now waning.
Last month, more nursing home workers in Wisconsin tested positive for COVID-19 in a single week than during any other week in the pandemic — a weekly record of 1,290 workers tested positive the week ending Jan. 9. It was unclear at that point whether COVID-19 cases in residents would follow and to what extent.
COVID-19 cases among residents rose, but never reached levels seen during the surge in the fall of 2020, when more than 100 residents were dying per week with COVID-19, according to data reported by nursing homes weekly to the federal government.
Nursing home industry leaders have credited the vaccine and booster shots with saving resident lives and tamping down the spread of the virus.
“The real key to addressing COVID in nursing homes is to have residents vaccinated,” said John Sauer, president and CEO of LeadingAge Wisconsin, a statewide association of nursing homes and other long-term care providers. “That’s really what’s kept people safe.”
Nearly 90% of Wisconsin nursing home residents have been fully vaccinated, and of those residents, about 78% have received a booster shot, which is above average for the nation, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During January, an average of about 380 residents per week tested positive for COVID-19 in Wisconsin. In the last four weeks for which data is available, about 20 residents have died per week statewide.
“We’re a far cry from November of 2020 when over 700 Wisconsin nursing home residents passed because of
COVID,” Sauer said. “We’d like to think that hopefully we’ve permanently turned the corner on the virus.”
As in the rest of the state, COVID-19 cases in nursing homes is on the decline. In the week ending Feb. 6, the latest week for which data is available, about 200 nursing home residents tested positive for COVID-19, down from about 430 who tested positive in the week ending Jan. 16, according to federal data.
Latest COVID-19 numbers
New cases reported: 1,586
New deaths reported, confirmed: 47
New deaths reported, probable:
5
Number hospitalized: 770 (intensive care: 158); down 1,477 patients from a month ago
Seven-day average of daily cases: 1,493 (down 16,607 cases from one month ago)
Seven-day average of confirmed daily deaths: 24
Seven-day average of new deaths reported within 30 days of death: 13 (down 8 deaths from a month ago)
Seven-day average positivity rate: 8.4% of all COVID-19 tests given
Total cases since the start of pandemic: 1,373,278
Total confirmed deaths: 11,701 Total probable deaths: 1,342
Latest vaccine numbers
Total doses administered:
9,236,121
Daily doses administered:
4,442
Seven-day average of daily doses: 5,166
Total booster doses administered: 1,894,905
Daily booster doses administered: 2,229
Seven-day average of daily booster doses: 2,497
Residents who have received one dose: 3,719,607 (63.8% of the population)
Residents who are fully vaccinated: 3,506,495 (60.1% of the population)
Residents ages 5 to 11 with at least one dose: 127,172 (26.1% of age group)
Residents ages 12 to 17 with at least one dose: 268,608 (60.5% of age group)
Residents ages 18 to 24 with at least one dose: 322,574 (59.2% of age group)
Residents ages 25 to 34 with at least one dose: 469,875 (63.4% of age group)
Residents ages 35 to 44 with at least one dose: 496,280 (68.7% of age group)
Residents ages 45 to 54 with at least one dose: 498,158 (71.3% of age group)
Residents ages 55 to 64 with at least one dose: 638,363 (77.9% of age group)
Residents 65 and older with at least one dose: 898,577 (85.7% of age group)
Variant case sequencing
State and private labs regularly do further tests on a portion of positive COVID-19 samples to find the prevalence of different variants of the virus. The numbers below are just a fraction of the total number of variant cases.
Omicron variant was identified in more than 99% of tests sequenced during the week starting Jan. 30.