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Nursing homes vaccines to be updated weekly Order by Hogan applies to both staff, residents

Capital - 5/5/2021

In an ongoing push to improve vaccination rates, the state will now post data weekly on how many residents and staff at each nursing home in Maryland have received shots to protect against the coronavirus.

Through Tuesday, about 77% of residents and 63% of employees at the state's 227 skilled nursing facilities were vaccinated, according to the new dashboard managed by the Department of Aging. However, the rates vary widely from facility to facility and county to county.

The gap in rates between residents and workers concerns public health officials, who hope to further slow the spread of the coronavirus among older people.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who toured the FutureCare Northpoint nursing home in Dundalk on Tuesday, said nursing homes have made "incredible progress" with vaccinations and in cutting down on COVID-19 infections. But, he said, there needs to be more shots in arms in nursing homes.

Hogan bumped elbows and took selfies with employees at FutureCare Northpoint, which gave vaccination shots to 34 workers Tuesday. According to the new state dashboard, as of Monday, the facility had fully vaccinated 83% of its staff and 69% of its residents - a reversal of the situation at many nursing homes, which typically have better vaccination rates among residents than workers.

"The fastest way to get back to normal is to get everyone vaccinated," Hogan said.

He encouraged nursing homes to offer incentives for workers who get the shots, similar to the $100 payments he offered Monday to state workers.

"If you're not yet vaccinated, please get your vaccine immediately" Hogan said. "It keeps you, your family and your neighbors safe."

Nursing homes have experienced a dramatic turnaround from last spring, where the virus ripped through some facilities, causing some of the most severe outbreaks in the state. State health officials said workers without symptoms likely unwittingly brought the virus into the nursing homes.

The state eventually set up "strike teams" to monitor and respond to the outbreaks, helping with testing, supplies and health care services. Testing was mandated at all nursing homes, and the state temporarily picked up the cost.

When vaccines became available in December, nursing homes and long-term care facilities were among the earliest places they were administered in Maryland, and the shots have been credited with limiting infections and deaths among patients and residents.

Since the coronavirus reached Maryland last March, the state has documented 32,751 cases of the virus and 3,523 deaths in nursing homes. Nursing homes account for 40% of all coronavirus deaths in the state.

Deaths from COVID-19 peaked for all age groups last May. Since then, they have dropped the most among seniors. Deaths declined 80% among those 80 and older and by 67% among those in their 70s. But seniors still make up the lion's share of deaths because age and underlying health conditions are the drivers of serious illness from the coronavirus.

Edwina Bell, director of nursing at St. Elizabeth Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Southwest Baltimore, said nursing home residents also suffered from isolation early in the pandemic because they weren't able to have visitors or leave the facilities. Some experienced accelerated cognitive and physical declines, as well as increased rates of depression.

"We know that vaccinations are the only way we are going to get our residents back to the interactive environment that they thrive in," she said.

Joe DeMattos, president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland, which represents nursing homes, acknowledged that more senior care workers need to get vaccinated.

While there's been progress since shots were first offered in December, "the reality is we've got so far to go, still," DeMattos said. "As the governor says, the biggest thing anyone can do to give us some sense of normalcy is to get that vaccine into your arm."

DeMattos, who appeared with the governor, said the industry is "fully committed to this endeavor."

In an interview, he said many nursing homes already are offering incentives for workers who get vaccinated. But one-on-one conversations with colleagues seem to be most effective at persuading workers to get the shots, he said.

He said nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals and other such institutions are exploring whether to require employees to be vaccinated.

"I think we're on that track. ... The critical factor will be to make sure that when it's mandated, it continues to be broadly available," he said of the vaccine.

DeMattos said that nursing homes have been talking with the state for weeks about reporting vaccination data. He said he hopes the state will expand the reporting effort to include data from long-term care facilities, hospitals and other facilities.

"We look at it as a positive move," he said. "I think it could almost be a center-to-center competition to get the numbers better."

Just three nursing homes in the state have achieved 100% vaccination among employees, according to the state dashboard: Genesis HealthCare's Hammonds Lane Center in Brooklyn Park, the Garrett Regional Medical Center's Subacute Unit in Oakland and ManorCare Health Services-Rossville in Baltimore County.

In some nursing homes, the gap between vaccinated employees and residents is wide. At St. Joseph's Ministries in Frederick County, for example, the dashboard shows just 13.5% of the staff is vaccinated, compared to nearly 80% of residents.

Hank Greenberg, state director for the AARP, said the organization supports public accountability measures that aim to get more people vaccinated.

"We applaud any move toward transparency and releasing the data regarding staff and residents is critical as it relates to the population where disproportionate outcomes occurred," he said. "It provides some sort of accountability for the substantial government funding going to nursing homes."

Baltimore Sun reporters Meredith Cohn and Hallie Miller contributed to this article.

Caption: Gov. Larry Hogan exchanges an elbow bump with Brenda Navarro, housekeeping supervisor at FutureCare Northpoint, on Tuesday in Dundalk. Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun

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