Long-term care facilities have been the hardest hit by the pandemic. According to data from the CCCHD, 29 facilities in the county have reported at least one resident or staff case of the virus since the first long-term care facility outbreak was reported in April 2020.
The county’s first long-term care facility outbreak was at Southbrook Care Center in Springfield. The outbreak resulted in the county’s first confirmed COVID-19 death, a woman in her 90′s, on April 24.
Outbreaks at other facilities followed through the end of 2020. In November, total long-term care facility case numbers approached nearly 300 before cases started to level out after vaccinations started in December.
As of Wednesday, Mercy Health Oakwood Village Senior Living had recorded the highest number of resident and staff COVID-19 cases in the county, with a total of 170 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, according to CCCHD data.
In March, Gov. Mike DeWine announced long-term care facilities could restart in-person visits as long as a facility has had no new cases in the last 14 days, the facility is not conducting outbreak testing and the county’s positivity rate at less than 10%.
The restart of visits was credited to the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, which rolled out in late December in Ohio.
The CDC-sponsored program partnered long-term care facilities across the country with big pharmacy chains, like CVS and Walgreens, to administer on-site vaccinations of residents and staff.
According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care program, as of Tuesday, 364,330 total doses of vaccine had been administered to Ohio long-term care staff and residents. Of those total doses, 127,260 people had received both doses.
The CDC program does not offer data on a county-by-county level, but according to data from the Ohio Department of Health, of Clark County’s 51,084 total vaccines given, 78% have gone to those 80 and above, as of Tuesday.
In total, 75% of Clark County’s total 80 and above age group has been fully vaccinated, according to ODH data.
Now, as the pandemic intensity wanes, recent rules at the federal, state and facility level have been loosening infection control measures, particularly for people with COVID-19 vaccinations.
Last week, DeWine announced vaccinated long-term care facility staff don’t need to be tested weekly for the virus anymore. Prior to the announcement vaccinated staff were being tested twice a week.
“Unvaccinated staff in those facilities will continue to have to be tested twice a week,” DeWine said. “We hope that this change will give encouragement to those who work in nursing homes who have not been vaccinated yet to take advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated.”
Pete Van Runkle, executive director of Ohio Health Care Association, said the new rule reduces the burden on facilities and also creates a powerful incentive to get vaccinated.
“This is big. I mean, being the difference between being exempted and not having to do it twice a week is huge,” Van Runkle said.
He added that the CDC’s additional guidance that if people have been fully vaccinated they can gather together, not wear masks and not have social distance, like in a break or meeting room, is also helpful.
Clark County had 14,017 cases and 299 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, according to ODH.
Ohio reported 1,411 daily cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, nearly double the amount reported on Monday. That’s above the state’s 21-day average of 1,387.
The state recorded 794 daily cases on Sunday and 713 on Monday, according to ODH. Those figures were the two fewest number of daily cases reported in the last three weeks.
Throughout the pandemic, the state has recorded 1,085,733 total cases, according to ODH.
Ohio reported 13 deaths on Tuesday. Deaths are reported twice a week on Tuesday and Friday. As of Tuesday, Ohio has reported 19,439 total COVID deaths.
Staff writer Kaitlin Schroeder contributed to this report.
About the Author
