1 in 3 Ohio nursing homes is facing staffing shortage, AARP dashboard reports

Over one-third of Ohio nursing homes and long-term care facilities faced a shortage of direct care workers in January, according to new data released this week (Source: “Staff shortages plague 1 in 3 Ohio nursing homes; nearly 1 in 4 in Kentucky struggle too,” Cincinnati Enquirer, Feb. 15).

The data is part of the AARP COVID-19 Dashboard, which uses information reported each week by nursing homes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Long-term care facilities have made up almost half of Ohio’s COVID-19 deaths, despite combined resident and staff cases comprising only 8% of the state's total cases. 

And the solutions available to nursing homes to curb these shortages, such as bringing in temporary workers or extending hours of current staff, could potentially spread COVID-19 to both residents and staff, one expert said.