This timeline entry follows up Connecticut's COVID nursing home deaths data most recently updated in this 5 February 2022 timeline entry.
For this entry, we've reset the baseline data to correspond with Connecticut's COVID nursing home death data reported on 23 December 2021, covering the period from 8 December 2021 through 21 December 2021. We've done that because this period precedes the contribution of Omicron-variant related COVID cases, which began surging in late December 2021.
Here is Connecticut's data for nursing home residents in each report so far in 2022:
- Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (8 December 2021 - 21 December 2021)
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- Residents - Confirmed Cases: 136 | Baseline
- Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 13 | Baseline
- Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (22 December 2021 - 4 January 2022)
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- Residents - Confirmed Cases: 829 | 693 Above Baseline
- Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 13 | Same As Baseline
- Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (5 January 2022 - 18 January 2022)
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- Residents - Confirmed Cases: 1,616 | 1,480 Above Baseline
- Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 58 | 35 Above Baseline
- Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (19 January 2022 - 1 February 2022)
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- Residents - Confirmed Cases: 762 | 626 Above Baseline
- Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 40 | 22 Above Baseline
- Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (2 February 2022 - 15 February 2022)
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- Residents - Confirmed Cases: 363 | 227 Above Baseline
- Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 18 | 5 Above Baseline
Connecticut Nursing Home Deaths Remain Elevated
The latest data continues to point to a reduced incidence of COVID cases and deaths during the most recently ended two week period. The number of deaths however is still elevated above the level that was established in the four weeks preceding the Lamont administration's change in policy.
That's significant because on 6 January 2022, the administration of Governor Ned Lamont issued guidance requesting nursing homes accept COVID-positive patients from Connecticut hospitals to free up their bed space. While similar to Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, the Lamont adminstration's guidance differs in not forcing Connecticut's nursing homes to admit these potentially contagious patients into their facilities, which like New York, house those most at risk of death if exposed to the variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Connecticut's COVID data indicates the state experienced a surge in both cases and COVID-related deaths in the period during which the Lamont administration's guidance has been in effect. The question we cannot yet answer is how many COVID-positive patients, if any, were transferred to Connecticut nursing homes where they may have contributed to the increase in cases and deaths that have been observed.
New Questions
Resetting the baseline period as we have however raises new questions. When the Lamont administration changed its guidance to request Connecticut nursing homes admit COVID-positive patients being discharged from Connecticut hospitals on 6 January 2022, they knew nursing homes were already experiencing a surge in cases. Did they think that would make it okay for them to pursue their version of Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive? What were they thinking?
Better still, what kind of pressure did they put upon any Connecticut nursing home operators who attempted to opt out of accepting COVID-positive patients? We already know that any nursing home operator who might choose to decline accepting patients would be forced to justify their decision in direct calls with state public health officials, a burden that operators accepting COVID patients were exempted from facing. What in their minds could possibly justify such a practice?
