COVID deaths and cases are rising again at US nursing homes

By MEG KINNARD and BRYAN GALLION
Associated Press

COVID-19 infections are soaring again at U.S. nursing homes because of the omicron wave, and deaths are climbing too. That’s leading to new restrictions on family visits and a renewed push to get more residents and staff members vaccinated and boosted. Nursing homes were the lethal epicenter of the pandemic early on, before the advent of the vaccines allowed many of them to reopen and welcome visitors again. Now the highly contagious variant has dealt them a setback. Nursing homes reported about 32,000 COVID-19 cases among residents in the week ending Jan. 9, a nearly sevenfold increase from about a month ago. A total of 645 COVID-19-related deaths were reported during the same week, a 47% increase from a month earlier.