Florida tied for third in COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents, AARP says

Florida ranked third nationwide in COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents during a four-week period in August and September, according to AARP's latest COVID-19 dashboard update released Thursday.

From Aug. 23 to Sept. 19, 289 Florida nursing home residents died from the virus, compared to 237 deaths reported during the previous four-week period, which ran from July 25 to Aug. 22, according to AARP.

Those deaths make up 14% of the 2,131 COVID-19-related deaths — nearly double the previous report's deaths — across the nation's nursing homes during that four-week period ending on Sept. 19.

Florida, Maine and Montana reported that .46 per 100 nursing home residents died from COVID-19.

Oregon and West Virginia ranked first and second with .60 per 100 residents and .50 per 100 residents, respectively.

Previous report: Florida leads nation in nursing home COVID-19 deaths among residents and staff, AARP says

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"Tragically, these reported data continue to show an increase of new deaths caused by COVID-19 in Florida's nursing homes," said AARP Florida State Director Jeff Johnson in a press release. "With more than 11,000 lives lost in Florida's long-term care system since the start of the pandemic, we can only hope that the recent decreases in new cases and hospitalizations could mean that the darkest days of this global public health crisis are behind us."

Using data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — which is self-reported by nursing homes — the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard to provide four-week snapshots of the virus' impact on nursing home residents and staff.

The federal data does not include coronavirus cases among residents or staff of assisted-living facilities, group homes and other congregate elder-care facilities.

Florida still exceeds the national average for COVID-19 deaths in residents as well as COVID-19 infections among residents and staff members, according to the report.

In Florida, .46 per 100 nursing home residents died from COVID-19 compared to the national average of .19, the report stated.

The state also reported that 4.3 per 100 nursing home residents contracted COVID-19 compared to the national average of 1.8, according to the AARP. The state has the fifth worst rate of COVID-19 infections among residents.

For staff members, 4.4 per 100 contracted COVID-19, higher than the national average of 2.5. The state has the 10th worst rate of COVID-19 infections among staff.

Florida has the worst rate of fully vaccinated nursing home residents as of the Sept. 19 report with 72.4%. The national average is 84.7%.

But it's still better than the vaccination rate for staff members.

While Florida's nursing home staff vaccination rate increased by 4% since the previous report, the state still has the second worst rate of staff vaccinations with just 53% vaccinated as of Sept. 19, according to the report.

That's well below the industry standard of 75% and lower than the national average of 67%. Louisiana has the worst rate with 52.8% vaccinated.

According to the report, just 12%, or 85, of Florida's nearly 700 nursing homes met the industry standard.

Additionally, staff shortages increased to 25%, up from 22% the previous month, the report stated.

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