About 32% of long-term care residents in Nebraska have tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to federal data.
Dr. Muhammad Salman Ashraf works closely with facilities across the state as medical director for the Nebraska Infection Control Assessment and Promotion Program, or ICAP.
He says cases in long-term care facilities were surging in November, and one reason for the spike is ongoing staff shortages.
"If you're starting to have staff shortages then you start to not be able to dedicate staff entirely to one unit or one zone of the nursing home, then there will be crossover," Dr. Ashraf said.
As of November 22, at least 2,700 residents have tested positive and at least 465 residents have died.
34% of nursing homes had at least one new resident test positive during the week of November 22, and 66% had at least one new staff member test positive that week. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for more recent data.
Nebraska ranks 27 among states for the rate of COVID-19 cases per 1,000 long-term care residents, and ranks 29 for death rate.
Those rankings have fallen since July, when the state ranked in the top 20 states with the lowest rates.
Nebraska does not publish data about COVID-19 cases in specific facilities, but the federal government regularly updates facility-specific information.