A new report finds deaths among Medicare patients in U.S. nursing homes surged by 32% last year. The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found four in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, or had symptoms consistent with the disease.
Meanwhile, new cases continue to fall in most parts of the United States but are on the rise in some areas with low vaccination rates. In Florida, six people contracted COVID-19 in an outbreak at a government building in Manatee County — five of whom were hospitalized, and two of whom died. The only employee who was exposed who did not become infected had been vaccinated.