The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) released a report on November 2 showing new COVID-19 cases are increasing in nursing homes in the United States due to community spread among the general population, notably in the Midwestern states, in recent weeks.

Data released by Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) show that with the recent spike in new COVID cases in the general U.S. population, weekly nursing home cases are also on the rise. According to Johns Hopkins University, weekly new COVID cases in the general U.S. population rose by 61 percent to 391,527 new cases the week of October 18. A correlating uptick in new cases in nursing homes occurred when cases in the surrounding community started rising back in mid-September.

“As we feared, the sheer volume of rising cases in communities across the U.S., combined with the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of this virus, has unfortunately led to an increase in new COVID cases in nursing homes” said Mark Parkinson, president and chief executive officer of AHCA/NCAL.

Please stay the course, stay strong, stay well, stay safe, mask up, and stay tuned!