INDIANAPOLIS — Nursing homes are still battling COVID-19 outbreaks as multiple sites in the four-county area showed some flareups in cases among residents recently.
For the week ending Dec. 16 — long-term care data provided by the state lags a week behind — three nursing homes in LaGrange and DeKalb counties saw double-digit increases in resident cases.
In LaGrange County, the outbreak is a new one hitting the Life Care Center of LaGrange. The facility reported 19 new cases among residents between Dec. 9-13, after previously having only two cases all-time prior to that. The facility also reported nine staff member cases in the reporting week.
No deaths have been reported from that center.
The other LaGrange County long-term care facility, Miller’s Merry Manor in LaGrange, had three new resident cases but also reported it had three resident deaths, taking the total to 13 all-time from that facility.
In DeKalb County, two centers that have been battling recent outbreaks saw some increased case numbers again. The Laurels of DeKalb in Butler reported 13 new residents cases, two resident deaths and four staff cases during the week, while Miller’s Merry Manor in Garrett had 11 new cases among residents and one staff case.
Betz Nursing Home in Auburn, which has fought COVID-19 recently, had one new resident case but identified six new staff cases and reported two resident deaths.
Activity elsewhere across the region was more minor.
Orchard Pointe in Kendallville had six resident cases, Lutheran Life Villages in Kendallville had one new staff case and Presence Sacred Heart Home in Avilla had one resident and one staff case.
Northern Lakes Nursing and Rehabilitation in Angola, which reported a chunk of staff cases the week prior, had two new staff cases reported in this reporting week.
Statewide, Indiana saw 1,238 new resident cases in the reporting week, which was slightly down from the week before at 1,400. Deaths were also down a little but still high at 248 compared to 265 the week before.
A total of 941 staff cases were identified during the week.
In total, 18,750 cases of COVID-19 have come from nursing home residents, only about 4% of the statewide total. However the 3,794 total deaths account for 52% of all COVID-19 deaths in the state.
That proportion has been shrinking in recent weeks, however, as the state has seen sharply higher death counts including a higher proportion of deaths among people outside of nursing facilities.
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