Wyoming Nursing Homes Hit Hard by COVID-19

Wyoming ranks eighth nationwide for the highest reports of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100 nursing home residents. Wyoming currently has 6.2 cases per 100 residents, or 114 cases total, according to a news release from AARP Wyoming Dashboard.

New Mexico has the nation's highest rate with 10.4 cases per 100 residents ill with COVID-19.

Statewide, 42% of nursing homes confirmed a COVID-19 case among its residents in the four week period ending Aug. 11.

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Alaska leads the nation with .18 deaths per 100 nursing home residents attributed to COVID-19. Wyoming is tied for fourth in the country with a rate of .16. That is the same rate of COVID-19 deaths per 100 residents as the nursing home dashboard reported on June 19, after no deaths reported in the May 22 edition of the dashboard.

Alaska also leads the nation in the number of nursing home staff per 100 residents who have contracted COVID-19 with 11.28. Wyoming ranks third in the same category at 9.26 nursing home staff per 100 residents (170 confirmed case) reporting COVID-19 illness.

According to the dashboard, 80.3% of Wyoming’s nursing home residents are reporting as fully vaccinated and boosted, placing the state in the top half of national rankings. That is significantly higher than the 41% of Wyoming’s nursing home staff who are fully vaccinated and boosted.

Wyoming’s staff COVID case rate has led to the state sporting the eighth-highest percentage of facilities reporting staff shortages of nurses or aides with half of state facilities reporting a shortage. That 50% number is lower than the 66% of nursing homes that were reporting staffing shortages during the May dashboard.

About the Dashboard

The AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard to provide four-week snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, with the goal of identifying specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner.

AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 dashboard has tracked five categories of impact since summer 2020, as well as vaccination rates of nursing home residents and health care staff, updated every month to track trends over time.

All nursing home data are from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File.