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Most Valley nursing home residents vaccinated

Daily Item - 1/22/2022

Jan. 22—At least 80 percent of residents at Valley nursing homes are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while the vaccination rates for staffers at the facilities lag behind.

The lower vaccination rates among staffers are translating into a surge in cases out of nursing homes statewide.

After the number of COVID cases coming from long-term care facilities had leveled off, there have been 126 new cases locally this week, including 58 over the past three days and 24 on Friday.

In Montour County, 16.5 percent of the positive COVID cases (654 total) have come from one of the six facilities to have cases while more than three-quarters of deaths among county residents were tied to nursing homes (65 of 83).

In Northumberland County, 8.6 percent of cases (1,776) since the pandemic began have been linked to one of 21 homes across the county. Nearly half of the county's totals COVID-related deaths (236 of 489) were tied to nursing homes, according to state data.

Two facilities have reported cases in Snyder County, accounting for 3.2 percent of the county's cases (232) while about a third of COVID-related deaths were linked to nursing homes. In Union County, 4.9 percent of cases (521) and 35.3 percent of deaths were tied to nursing homes.

Statewide, there have been 147,147 cases tied to nursing homes, including 78,622 residents at 1,712 facilities. Forty percent of deaths in Pennsylvania since the pandemic began can be traced to nursing homes.

According to the National Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, there have now been more cases among staffers at nursing homes than residents across the nation. CMS reports there have been 808,174 cases among staffers at facilities nationwide, and 800,026 cases among residents. Of the 145,000 deaths linked to nursing homes, 98.4 percent of deaths — 142,693 of 145,005 — were among residents.

Nationally, 87.4 percent of residents are vaccinated, while 81.1 percent of staffers are.

Locally, the vaccination rates of residents are on par with the national average, while the staff rates are a little lower. Of the 13 state-licensed facilities in the Valley, seven of them have at least 90 percent of the residents fully vaccinated, led by the Nursing and Rehabilitation at the Mansion in Sunbury at 98.2 percent according to the latest state data. All 13 locations have a resident vaccination rate of at least 81 percent. At Watsontown Nursing and Rehabilitation, 98 percent are fully vaccinated and the other 2 percent are partially vaccinated.

For staffers, five facilities have a vaccination rate higher than the national rate. At RiverWoods in Union County, 97.4 percent of staffers were fully vaccinated according to the latest state data, while 88.9 percent of staffers at Watsontown Nursing and Rehabilitation are vaccinated.

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