Senior living facilities entice new residents with Covid vaccine

Senior living facilities looking to assure prospective residents of their safety — and boost their occupancy levels — are offering Covid-19 vaccines as an amenity.

They face an uphill battle. Twenty percent of residents who contracted the coronavirus in assisted living facilities died, compared to the percent of the general population, the New York Times reported.

And occupancy rates at those communities plummeted 6.8 percentage points in 2020, dwindling to just 80.7 percent by the fourth quarter, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care, an industry group.

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There is evidence the vaccine is helping to allay the safety concerns associated with senior living facilities. Those offering the vaccine to residents report a dramatic increase in interest from potential residents.

“We’ve had an amazing uptick in people who are considering senior living,” Julie Masiello, a spokeswoman for Brightview Senior Living, told the New York Times.

The vaccine rollout at Brightview, which operates 45 communities on the east coast — including in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey — has been swift. By early February, 43 percent of
Brightview residents received a first dose of the vaccine.

“This is the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel,” Masiello said.

[NYT] — Georgia Kromrei