(Radio Iowa) – The State reports 980 nursing home residents have died of Covid and a record 118 Iowa nursing homes now have active Covid-19 outbreaks.

“You just cannot separate the two,” he says. “It’s like separating smoke from a wildfire.” The spike in Iowa’s coronavirus infections is also making staffing shortages worse. A-A-R-P Iowa is calling on the state to develop a plan to help with staffing and to keep the virus out of facilities. Brad Anderson is the state director for A-A-R-P:

“We have 43% of Iowa nursing homes across the state reporting a workforce shortage,” Anderson says. “That is well above the national average of 28% and so until we deal with the workforce shortage, we’re going to have a very difficult time containing the virus.”

New state guidelines say nursing homes may — as a last resort – have Covid-positive staff care for residents, if the staff wear proper protective equipment.