In Tennessee, around 1 in 8 long-term care residents diagnosed with COVID-19 are dying from it

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are soaring — especially in the state's long-term care facilities.

According to the White House Coronavirus Task Force, at least 68 percent of nursing homes reported new staff or resident cases from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6. At least a fifth of them reported one or more new COVID-19 deaths.

"This is a virus that just particularly hits the residents of long term care facilities quite hard," said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living. "Unfortunately, nowhere is [the impact] more clear than in long-term care facilities."

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Parkinson said he and his wife used to work in a long-term care facility. Such large numbers of people dying are highly unusual.

"We would, of course, have patient and resident deaths," Parkinson said. "But you usually knew these were people that were on hospice and usually knew when they were going to die."

With COVID-19, he said that has changed. The virus is impacting all residents, including those who are otherwise in good health.

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"We have had now almost 100,000 — probably more than that — people die unexpectedly and oftentimes alone [nationwide]," Parkinson said. "It has been traumatic for our residents and of course, has been traumatic for our staff."

As of Dec. 11, the Tennessee Department of Health has reported 12,155 long-term care facility residents have had COVID-19. More than 1,500 of them — or 13 percent — have died from it.

An additional 10,031 long-term care facility staff members have been diagnosed with the virus, although the state does not track deaths among them.

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In Tennessee, long-term care facility residents and workers are in the state's highest category for vaccine distribution. Advocates, like Parkinson, hope that will soon make a difference.

"It gives us an incredible opportunity to make a huge difference in the mortality rate, just by focusing the initial rounds of vaccine distribution," Parkinson said. "At any rate, we will find out very soon."