New AARP Analysis: COVID Cases and Deaths Continue to Rise in Michigan Nursing Homes

[LANSING, MI] – The latest AARP Nursing Home Dashboard report for the four weeks ending August 22 shows a rise in coronavirus cases and deaths following a drop in the previous period.

Resident cases increased from .01 to .36 per 100 residents and staff cases increased from .12 to .85 per 100 residents since the mid-July report, according to the latest data from AARP's Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard.

Deaths have also increased from .01 to .06 per 100 residents over the previous four-week period. Cases are concentrated among the unvaccinated: nationally, those residents were three times as likely to contract COVID-19 last month compared to residents who are fully vaccinated.

AARP has called on long-term care facilities to require that staff and residents be vaccinated against coronavirus. The state and the Biden Administration announced plans in August to require vaccination for nursing home staff.

There were modest increases in vaccination rates in this four-week period, with 81.4% of Michigan nursing home residents and 53.5% of staff fully vaccinated as of August 22. This is lower than the national average of 84% of residents and considerably lower than the national average of 64% of staff fully vaccinated.

"This month's dashboard underscores why all staff and residents in long-term care facilities must be vaccinated as quickly as possible," said Paula D. Cunningham, AARP Michigan State Director. "For unvaccinated nursing home residents, their risk of an infection is back up to the levels we saw a year ago. At least 3,600 people in Michigan who lived and worked in nursing facilities have died from COVID-19, and no one wants to see that tragedy repeated. Facilities should ensure that all staff and residents are vaccinated, so we can slow the spread of new variants and save lives."

The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard also found a slight drop in nursing home staff shortages in the period ending August 22, with 32.8% of facilities in Michigan reporting they did not have sufficient staff, compared to 33.7% in the previous period. Nationally, staffing shortages increased month-to-month by the largest number since data collection began in the spring of 2020.

The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard analyzes federally reported data in four-week periods going back to June 1, 2020. Using this data, the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the dashboard to provide snapshots of the virus' infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, with the goal of identifying specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner.

The full Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard is available at www.aarp.org/nursinghomedashboard, and an AARP story about this month's data is available here. For more information on how COVID is impacting nursing homes and AARP's advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes.

About AARP

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org, www.aarp.org/espanol or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspanol and @AARPadvocates, @AliadosAdelante on social media.