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Stories, Stats, Impacts: Wyoming Public Media is here to keep you current on the news surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

More than half of Wyoming nursing home residents are boosted

More than half of Wyoming's nursing home residents have gotten a COVID-19 booster – that puts them above the national average.

According to a report from AARP, Wyoming is 15th in the nation for the percentage of nursing home residents who have been boosted.

That figure is significant considering Wyoming is one of the least vaccinated states in the nation. Most age groups in Wyoming trail the national average, but nursing home residents specifically are more vaccinated than their counterparts in other states.

"Wyoming across the board has been a little bit low in terms of the number of vaccinated residents," said Thomas Lacock, associate state director for AARP Wyoming. "But actually over half of Wyoming’s nursing home residents have received the booster already."

Wyoming nursing home residents are also more likely to be vaccinated than the national average, nearly 90 percent versus 87 percent.

The same cannot be said for Wyoming's nursing home staff, who are less likely to be boosted than their counterparts in other states. The data might have changed since it was collected four weeks ago, but around Thanksgiving, roughly 11 percent of nursing home staff had been boosted.

Lacock said despite the high level of residents getting boosters, nursing home cases are still going up.

"We have seen cases rise each week over the last four-week period that was measured here," he said. "And so I would anticipate numbers to continue in that direction, especially with omicron."

Jeff is a part-time reporter for Wyoming Public Media, as well as the owner and editor of the Laramie Reporter, a free online news source providing in-depth and investigative coverage of local events and trends.
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