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The number of COVID-19 cases at Mahoning Valley nursing homes and assisted-living facilities remained low again this week. But the most recent numbers suggest the reason why President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he is directing nursing homes across the country to require their employees to get vaccinated.
In other words, staff COVID-19 cases outnumber patient cases at Valley nursing homes.
Biden said he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up new regulations making employee vaccination a condition for nursing homes to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
"Now, if you visit, live or work at a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk of contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees," the president said during a speech at the White House.
Locally, Mahoning County has the most nursing home and assisted-living virus cases this week after Trumbull County briefly overtook it.
Mahoning County has eight cases at six facilities this week -- all of them staff cases, according to the Ohio Department of Health dashboard.
Trumbull County facilities have five cases this week -- three among staff and two among patients.
Last week, Trumbull County facilities had 10 cases and Mahoning County facilities only had two.
The Clearview Lantern Suites assisted-living facility in Champion had six patient cases and one staff case last week. It has one patient case and two staff cases this week, the ODH website shows.
Columbiana County facilities have no cases.
The Ohio Department of Health reported 332 staff and 249 patient cases statewide this week. Those numbers are higher than last week, which had 268 staff and 156 patient cases.
The number of deaths at area long-term care facilities such as nursing homes remained the same this week as it has since July 14. There have been 79 in Columbiana County, 157 in Trumbull County and 282 in Mahoning County.
Each of the local prisons -- Northeast Ohio Correctional Center and Ohio State Penitentiary, both in Youngstown, and Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg -- have one staff case and no inmate cases each.
Among all Ohio's prisons, 37 staff members are currently positive for COVID-19 and six inmates.