Nebraska COVID Cases and Deaths Declining in Nursing Homes

The latest release of AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard shows that both cases and deaths in Nebraska nursing homes fell in the four weeks ending February 14.

Although these rates are improving, new infections and deaths in nursing homes are still as high as they were in the summer of 2020.

Deaths of nursing home residents are less than half what they were in the previous period, dropping from a rate of 1.05 to 0.41 per 100 residents. New infections among residents and staff also declined to less than half of previous levels. Resident cases fell from 4.7 to 1.1 per 100 residents, and new staff cases declined from 5.5 to 1.8 per 100 residents.

Shortages of staff and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) remain a significant problem. In Nebraska, 34% of facilities reported a shortage of nurses or aides in the most recent period, while 14% of facilities lacked a one-week supply of PPE.

“One year into the coronavirus pandemic, we continue to see high numbers of cases and deaths in Nebraska’s long-term care facilities,” said Todd Stubbendieck, state director of AARP Nebraska. “Decreasing numbers and vaccine rollout give hope, but we should not lose sight of the chronic, ongoing problems in our long-term care system that were exposed by COVID.”

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.

See the full Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard at www.aarp.org/nursinghomedashboard. For more information on how COVID is impacting nursing homes and AARP's advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes.