Since vaccinations began in late 2020, we expected them to show up first in our Long-Term-Care data. And it finally has. We’ve seen signs over the last few weeks that vaccines, along with a broader decrease in community spread, are having a rapid, positive impact in LTCs. 
Deaths in LTCs have fallen drastically. After adjusting for backlogs, our weekly deaths figure has declined ~70% since Jan 7. LTCs previously accounted for at least 35% of total deaths, yet last week their share was cut to 16%, the lowest ever recorded in our dataset.
Since their peak just before Christmas, new cases in long-term-care facilities have fallen by 87%, with the bulk of the drop occurring in the last three weeks. New cases last week were the lowest ever recorded in our dataset, which dates back to May 28.
The decline in cases and deaths in LTCs is outpacing improvement overall, suggesting that vaccination efforts —which prioritized LTCs—are working. Deaths in LTC facilities are declining not just in absolute numbers, but as a share of COVID-19 deaths in the whole country.
Over 6 million vaccine doses have been administered to at least 4 million residents and staff members in LTCs. covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…
This data continues to be made available only through the efforts of state public health authorities and our Long-Term-Care team, which has waded through the data from states for close to 10 months.
covidtracking.com/nursing-homes-…
covidtracking.com/nursing-homes-…
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