(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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Iowa’s nursing home infections and outbreaks are up 20% over last week

['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- October']

Date: 2021-10-29 00:00:00


At least 370 residents and workers in Iowa nursing homes have been infected with COVID-19 as a result of current, active outbreaks in 30 different care facilities.

That’s a 20% increase in both infections and outbreaks from just one week ago, when there were 307 infections tied to 25 active nursing home outbreaks, according to newly released data from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The biggest increase in infections has been at Hardin County’s Heritage Care Center, where the number of infections jumped from three last week to 23 this week. Fewer than 47% of the staff at the Heritage Care Center have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The federal agency says that to date 28 residents of the home have been infected with COVID-19 and one has died.

At Des Moines County’s Great River Klein Center, a previously unreported outbreak has resulted in 16 infections. According to CMS, seven residents of the home have died of COVID-19. (The facility had a total resident census of 107 during a state inspection last year.) CMS reports that 48% of the staff at the Great River Klein Center have yet to be fully vaccinated.

At Howard County’s Colonial Manor of Elma, infections increased from six last week to 17 this week. There have been no reported COVID-19 deaths at the facility and, according to CMS, 78% of the staff are fully vaccinated.

The biggest nursing home outbreak is at the state-run Iowa Veterans Home in Marshall County. In the past three weeks, the number of infections associated with the current outbreak in the facility has increased from 37 to 65. No other facility in the state has that many infections tied to a current outbreak.

According to CMS, there have been seven resident deaths due to COVID-19 at the Iowa Veterans Home.

This is the sixth COVID-19 outbreak at the Iowa Veterans Home, which is the highest number of outbreaks at any care facility in the state. Just under 72% of the IVH staff have been vaccinated, an increase of 1 percentage point over the past month.

Federal data shows the total number of Iowa nursing home residents infected during the 2020-21 pandemic now stands at 12,256, which is an increase of 132 from last week.

A total of 2,497 Iowa nursing home residents have died of the virus, which is an increase of 14 from the 2,483 deaths reported last week.

According to the federal government, 31% of the workers in Iowa nursing homes remain unvaccinated – the same percentage reported last week.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has opposed requiring workers in either state-run or private care facilities to be vaccinated.

On Aug. 18, the Biden administration issued a vaccine mandate for workers at all of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes that collect Medicare or Medicaid funding. The administration has said it intends to cut off that funding for any home that fails to comply.

In response to a formal Open Records Law information request, the Iowa Department of Public Health earlier this week disclosed that as of midnight, Oct. 26, these 30 care facilities in Iowa were dealing with a current, active outbreak of COVID-19. (Because the department no longer discloses the start date of outbreaks, it’s no longer possible to say how long many of the current outbreaks have remained active. Where that information is known, it’s reported below.)

Adams County – Corning Specialty Care: 19 infections, the same number as reported last week.

Black Hawk County – Friendship Village Retirement Center: Six infections, the same number as reported last week. Outbreak began Sept. 13. A previous outbreak at the facility in the spring of 2020 resulted in 47 infections.

Black Hawk County – Northcrest Specialty Care: Seven infections, the same number as reported last week.

Bremer County – Denver Sunset Home: Five infections, the same number as reported last week. Outbreak began Sept. 10. A previous outbreak at the facility last fall resulted in 15 infections.

Butler County – Clarksville Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: Four infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Cass County – Atlantic Specialty Care: Three infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Cass County – Caring Acres Nursing & Rehabilitation Center: Six infections, the same number as reported last week.

Cerro Gordo County – IOOF Home and Community Therapy Center: Seven infections, the same number as reported last week.

Delaware County: Edgewood Convalescent Home: Six infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Des Moines County – Great River Klein Center: 16 infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Dubuque County – Grad Meadows: Three infections, the same number as reported last week.

Hardin County – Heritage Care Center: 23 infections. Last week, there were only three infections associated with this outbreak.

Howard County – Colonial Manor of Elma: 17 infections. Last week, there were only six infections associated with this outbreak.

Iowa County – English Valley Nursing Care Center: 37 infections. Outbreak began Aug. 31. Last week, there were 31 infections associated with this outbreak.

Johnson County – Lantern Park Specialty Care: Five infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Lee County – Donnellson Health Center: Five infections, the same number as reported last week.

Lee County – Mississippi Valley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center: 44 infections, the same number as reported last week. Outbreak began Sept. 8.

Lee County – West Point Care Center: Three infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Linn County – Living Center West: 18 infections, the same number as reported last week. Outbreak began Aug. 30.

Linn County – Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon: 19 infections. One week ago, there were 17 infections associated with this outbreak.

Linn County – Hiawatha Care Center: 11 infections, the same number as reported last week.

Mahaska County – Northern Mahaska Specialty Care: Three infections, the same number as reported last week.

Marshall County – Iowa Veterans Home: 65 infections, which is one more than was reported last week. Outbreak began Aug. 20. Three weeks ago, there were 37 infections associated with this outbreak.

Osceola County – Sibley Specialty Care: Seven infections. Last week, there were four infections associated with this outbreak.

Polk County – Azria Health Park Place: Four infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

Polk County – Bishop Drumm Retirement Center: Four infections, the same number as reported last week.

Polk County – Genesis Senior Living Center: Three infections, the same number as reported last week.

Scott County – Iowa Masonic Home: 11 infections, the same number as reported last week.

Tama County – Sunrise Hill Care Center: Six infections, the same number as reported last week.

Winnebago County – Good Samaritan Home of Forest City: Three infections. This is a newly reported outbreak.

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