Just over half of skilled nursing facility staff members are vaccinated for COVID-19 across Ohio, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Recent data released shows 52% of staff are vaccinated at facilities across the state, just slightly up from the roughly 47% of Ohioans who are fully vaccinated.
“It's really reflection of the community where they live,” said Pete Van Runkle, Executive Director, Ohio Health Care Association.
Van Runkle says the higher vaccinated facilities are typically in higher vaccinated counties.
“They're drawing their staff from the people who live there so frankly a lot of rural folks aren't getting vaccinated,” he said.
So are vaccine requirements around the corner? No.
“It’s easy to go down the street, it's not like a hospital where there's maybe three systems in town,” said Runkle.
Runkle says facilities are already short-staffed. In a recent survey of the Ohio Health Care Association members, open positions were a big problem. Nursing facilities had an average of 19 open positions, while assisted living facilities had about 10.
Van Runkle says people are leaving for a variety of reasons; unemployment compensation, fear of COVID-19, and the promise of many other open positions.
“And then seeing people get sick and die, those are very psychologically wearing things,” Van Runkle said.
So why not up the pay? In that same survey members reported paying an extra 13 to 15 percent more than last year.
When it comes to nursing home residents, nearly 80% of them are fully vaccinated in Ohio.