Wyoming Nursing Homes See COVID Surge Among Residents and Staff

koszivu - Fotolia

While Wyoming nursing homes saw a surge in COVID-19 cases among its residents over the four-week period ending Jan. 23, the state’s ratio of cases was far below the national average. That is according to the latest edition of AARP’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Dashboard.

Wyoming nursing homes averaged 4.5 cases of COVID-19 per 100 residents over the four-week period ending Jan. 23, which is much lower than the national average of 12.9 cases per 100 nursing home residents. Wyoming’s case rate was the fifth-lowest in the nation, illustrating the Omnicrom’s impact in US nursing homes. 

In all, 11 states had rates of better than 15 nursing home resident cases of COVID-19 per 100 residents, led by Mississippi’s rate of 18.3. During that time, Wyoming’s percentage of deaths per 100 nursing home residents also ranked in the top three of the nation, with just .011 resident deaths, or two deaths among nursing home residents in Wyoming over the four week period ending Jan. 23.

Recent versions of the Nursing Home Dashboard have shown high numbers of nursing homes reporting staffing shortages due to COVID-19. That concern continues as two-thirds of Wyoming nursing homes, self-reported staff shortages, the third highest rate in the country. However, the state’s 66% rate of nursing homes reporting staffing shortages is lower than the 73% reported in mid-December. 

Nursing home staff cases per 100 residents saw an increase with 15.7 cases per 100 nursing home residents reported in Wyoming, which was the best rate in the nation. Delaware had the nation’s highest rate at 33 cases of COVID-19 among nursing home staff for every 100 nursing home residents. 

Other items of note:

• Just 24.5% of nursing home staff are reported as fully vaccinated with a booster shot. That is below the national average of 28%. 
• 67.8% of Wyoming nursing home residents are fully vaccinated with a booster. That is ahead of the national average of 59%
• 90% of Wyoming nursing home residents have received two vaccines.
• 73% of the state’s nursing home staff have received two vaccines.
• No Wyoming nursing homes reported a shortage of PPE during the reporting period.

About the Dashboard

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’ 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.