Nursing home and LTCF cases and deaths in New Jersey are the highest in the nation, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
As of April 1, 2021, data indicate there have been 124 deaths per 1,000 residents in New Jersey nursing homes. The median for the 50 states is 61.4 per 1,000 residents
Two hundred thirty-three long-term care facilities (LTCF) currently have active outbreaks of COVID-19, according to data maintained by the New Jersey Department of Health’s COVID-19 Information Hub website. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 7,849 resident deaths in LTC facilities and 143 deaths among staff.
Since vaccinations began in December 2020, COVID-19 cases in New Jersey nursing homes have declined dramatically, and there have been 50 percent fewer deaths. More than 72 percent of residents of LTCFs are reported to have been fully vaccinated.
On March 29, 2020, the Society for Post-Acute and Long Term Care Medicine (ADMA), jointly with the American Health Care Association (AHCA) issued a statement urging states not to send COVID-19 positive patients back into nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as New York had done.
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report(MMWR) released on March 18, 2020, “…once COVID-19 has been introduced into a long-term care facility, it has the potential to result in high attack rates among residents, staff members, and visitors. In the context of rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreaks in much of the United States, it is critical that long-term care facilities implement active measures to prevent the introduction of COVID-19, stated the report. “Substantial morbidity and mortality might be averted if all long-term care facilities take steps now to prevent exposure of their residents to COVID-19.”
Michele Mueller (TBA) writes from Las Vegas, Nevada.