Wyoming’s Nursing Home Staff Being Vaccinated for COVID At Low Rates

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Wyoming ranks below the national average in the numbers of nursing home staff who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That is according to the AARP COVID-19 Nursing Home Dashboard, developed by The AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio.

Just 48.2% of skilled nursing home staff in Wyoming are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That is lower than the national average of 56% and places Wyoming 37th in the nation for nursing home staff vaccination rates. Louisiana has the nation’s lowest vaccination rates among skilled nursing home staff at 41%, while Hawaii has the nation’s top rate at 83.9%.

While vaccination rates for nursing home staff in Wyoming is low, the COVID-19 vaccination rate for nursing home residents is above the national average. Almost 81% of nursing home residents in Wyoming are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which is just above the national average of 78%. Vermont has the nation’s top vaccination rate at 94.6%, followed by Maine (90.5%), New Hampshire (90.4%), North Dakota (90.2) and South Dakota (89.9%) rounding out the top five. Arizona (63.3%), Nevada (65.8%), and Georgia (68.1%) have the nation’s lowest vaccination rates for nursing home residents. 

The AARP COVID-19 Nursing Home Dashboard did have some positive data points for Wyoming’s nursing homes. The nursing home death rate (COVID deaths per 100 residents) dropped for the four weeks ending in June 20 from 0.9% to 0.6%. Nursing home resident cases per 100 residents also fell to 0.2 % over the same period of time. 

Wyoming did see an uptick in the percent of nursing homes who self-reported an urgent need for personal protective equipment, as 5% of facilities listed a need, compared to 3.6% in May. Staffing shortages in Wyoming nursing homes also remained nearly static from May through June with 23.5% of all facilities reporting a shortage in nurses or aides. 

“More than 184,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19,” said Nancy A. LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer. “This national tragedy cannot be repeated. With cases once again rising across the country and considering the highly contagious Delta variant, every effort must be made to protect vulnerable nursing home residents. AARP encourages residents and staff in long-term care facilities to get a free COVID vaccine to protect yourself, your family and your community.”

National Numbers

This July dashboard, including data from May 24 to June 20, reports vaccination data for the first time. There is considerable variation between states in the percentage of residents and health care staff that are fully vaccinated.

Nationally, about 56% of health care staff in nursing homes have been fully vaccinated. As of the week ending 6/20/21, only 20% of nursing homes (1 in 5 facilities) had reached an industry threshold of at least 75% of staff vaccinated. There were only five states – Hawaii (86%), California (66%), Vermont (55%), New Hampshire (51%), and Washington DC (50%) – in which even half of the facilities met this minimum standard.

There is a strong relationship between vaccination rates of staff and vaccination rates of residents. This means that in states where the vaccination rate of staff is low, there are also more unvaccinated residents who are vulnerable to a resurgence of the virus.

AARP sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday, urging the agency not to become complacent regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, “especially for vulnerable populations like LTC [long-term care] facility residents,” and strongly recommending “that the federal government commit to working with states, long-term care facilities, and other entities, as needed, to ensure that those facilities can access and administer vaccines on a continuing basis for the foreseeable future.” The letter applauds CMS for publishing data on nursing home vaccinations, and calls on the agency to offer that data in a more user-friendly format. AARP has repeatedly urged transparency and public reporting about the impact of COVID on residents and staff in nursing facilities.

About the Dashboard

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. For more information on how COVID is impacting nursing homes and AARP’s advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes.