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| Nurse Eva Diaz administers the Pfizer vaccine to Pam Peters a nurse practitioner at John Knox Village, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Fla. Many long term care workers have declined the COVID vaccine. (Marta Lavandier/AP) |
At Florida’s long-term care facilities, more workers are now infected with COVID-19 than elderly residents, a dramatic shift from earlier in the pandemic.
Despite state and federal attempts to offer vaccinations at all nursing homes and assisted-living centers in the state, 62% of staffers have declined — posing the single biggest threat to the more than 25,000 elderly people in those facilities who are also unvaccinated.
“These are the folks from the beginning that were bringing it in,” said Mary Daniel of Jacksonville, a caregiver and advocate for families of residents. “It’s frustrating. Staff members are choosing not to get the vaccine and it’s the residents who are getting punished because their families are getting locked out again.”
As of April 9, 344 of Florida’s long-term care workers tested positive for COVID, compared to 276 residents. The good news is overall cases are down — only a tenth of what they were in January, according to state data.
But while infections in residents continue to decline, cases among workers have plateaued, or in some instances, begun to tick upward in recent days. These are mostly low-paid workers who are in close contact with elderly residents.
Nursing homes are mandated to test their workers regularly for COVID-19 but assisted living facilities are not. So it’s possible not all cases are reported. Most homes continue to require masks and check the temperatures of staff daily to spot symptomatic workers with COVID before they expose others.
But mandating vaccination is highly controversial.
“Some workers are totally against it,” said Pascal Bergeron, chairman of North Lake Assisted Living in Hollywood and CEO of ALF BOSS, an assisting living resource agency. “They are scared to death of it, and forcing it on them would probably cause some to quit.”
The low vaccination rate is worrisome in workers who care for the group most vulnerable to COVID-19, particularly when some residents did not get vaccinated either. The Agency for Health Care Administration reports that 82% of residents are vaccinated.
Kristen Knapp, communications director for the Florida Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, said a combination of factors exists for why some of these vulnerable residents still aren’t fully vaccinated: Some are new admissions, others declined as a personal choice or their family declined for them. And some have underlying conditions that put them at risk.
But the effort to inoculate both residents and staff isn’t over, Knapp said. (Click to continue reading)
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