Most Recent CMS, CDC and NHSN Long-Term Care COVID-19 Data

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP
Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare

CMS has posted the Nursing Home COVID-19 data for the week ending May 22, 2022.

Comparing the May 22^nd data to the previous May 15^th data shows these changes:

Resident vaccination rate again remained the same as the 4 previous weeks
Residents with booster doses increased by 0.2% this past week
Staff vaccination rate increased by 0.1% this past week
Staff with booster doses increased by 0.5% this past week
An additional 9,760 resident cases were confirmed/reported this week
365 additional resident deaths were confirmed/reported this week
An additional 11,138 staff cases were confirmed/reported this week (the case rate continues to increase)
An additional 16 staff deaths were confirmed/reported this week (4 staff deaths the previous week)

Please keep up your efforts to educate staff, residents and families about the life-saving benefits of vaccination as well as the importance of getting the booster. Lives depend on both.

Cases continue to rise again due to the omicron variant BA.2 and there’s also another subvariant detected as of late April/early May – BA.2.12.1. Additionally, there are more variants out there and the variants are on the rise – BA.4 and BA.5. BA.4 and BA.5 together accounted for an estimated 6% to 7% of new infections in the US in late May. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is not done with us yet.

Be sure to review your facility’s vaccination rates on the list of every nursing home with recent resident and staff vaccination rates and other pertinent data as this data will be used for completing the COVID-19 Matrix during survey. State surveyors look at this data in preparation for your survey. You’ll also need to know your current rate (as reported to NHSN) and provide it to the survey team entering your facility. This data is current as of the week ending May 22, 2022.

The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows these current community transmission levels: