Deaths at Florida nursing homes due to the spread of the coronavirus doubled in recent months, according to data released by AARP Florida, but the increase remained below the threefold spike in nursing home deaths nationally.
The trends prompted the AARP to release its data earlier than planned, according to Florida AARP spokesman Dave Bruns, who expressed hope that the numbers would prompt Florida lawmakers to rethink how long-term care facilities are constructed and increase support for caregivers in communities throughout the state.
The AARP’s data showed that in a four-week period ending Nov. 15, the resident death rate due to COVID-19 infections at Florida nursing homes stood at 2.3 per 1,000 residents. But during the three-week period ending Dec. 6, that rate rose to 4.7 per 1,000 residents, the AARP data indicates.
Nationally, the death rate tripled as the year’s end approached, reaching 15.3 nursing home resident deaths per 1,000 residents, the AARP said.
Bruns is not aware of any corresponding increase in civil litigation claims involving nursing home deaths in Florida, but there would usually be a lag time before such lawsuits are filed, he told the Florida Record.
“In our view, key factors driving the pandemic haven’t changed since March,” Bruns said. “The problem is that we can’t stop the virus at the door.”
The spread of the virus in nursing homes is especially tragic because it can kill a quarter of the residents who become infected, since the residents are more frail than the overall population, he said.
“Once the virus gets past the door, it runs through these facilities like someone running through a dry wheat field with a flamethrower,” Bruns said.
The AARP hopes its statistics will prod Florida lawmakers to make bold reforms in how nursing home residents are cared for and increase support for community members who care for the elderly at their homes. More help in the form of visiting nurses, meal deliveries and adult day care would go a long way to relieve the burdens on caregivers, according to Bruns.
“We believe everyone who’s entering skilled nursing homes … ought to be tested (for COVID-19) before they enter the place every day,” Bruns said. “Now, we’ve never been able to get to that level.”
The AARP supports additional state support in Florida for caregivers in the community, as well as a shift in the way nursing homes are laid out, he said. Organizing nursing homes so that residents live in smaller, homelike units would dramatically reduce the risk of mass infections, according to Bruns, who said that most nursing homes now follow a hospital layout that can lead to mass infections.