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Report: 400+ nursing homes had first reported COVID-19 cases in 2021 after having none in 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of nursing homes have gotten their first ever COVID-19 cases this year after avoiding infections for all of 2020, according to a new watchdog report.

The report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said the findings are “among the clear indications that this pandemic isn’t over.”

“We found 437 nursing homes nationwide got through all of 2020 without a single COVID case and then all of a sudden in the first few weeks of this year, they’re reporting their very first case,” said Teresa Murray with U.S. PIRG.

Murray said factors causing the new infections could be that vaccinations for nursing homes are inconsistent and many facilities are relaxing visitation guidelines.

In Kentucky, more than 40 people became infected in a nursing home after an unvaccinated person brought the virus in, according to state health officials.

“At this facility, 85% of residents and 48% of the health care workers have been vaccinated,” said Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, on March 16. “It appears that an unvaccinated person introduced the virus into the facility.”

“Some of these nursing homes are going to get walloped if they continue to act in this fashion,” Murray said.

The report did have some good news, saying that overall COVID-19 cases in nursing homes have dropped more than 80% since the vaccine rollout.

It also found that more than 7,000 nursing home residents who got COVID-19 last year recovered and then became infected a second time between November and February.