The number of COVID-19 deaths and infections at Mahoning Valley nursing homes continued to drop this week.

It is welcome news, especially for Trumbull County facilities.

There were five additional deaths at Trumbull County facilities this week. That is down considerably from the second half of December, when Trumbull facilities had 50 deaths in three weeks.

Mahoning County nursing homes and assisted-living facilities reported three more deaths this week, and Columbiana County facilities had one more.

Trumbull has had 149 total nursing home deaths, Mahoning 209, and Columbiana 68, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Meanwhile, the number of Mahoning County nursing homes and assisted-living facilities with at least three combined patient and staff COVID-19 infections dropped from 10 to eight this week. Trumbull County facilities with that many cases dropped from two to one, and Columbiana County continues to have no facilities with three cases.

The biggest change in any one facility was at Crandall Medical Center nursing home in Sebring, which had 19 patient cases last week but has only three this week. Its staff cases dropped from six cases to five.

As a state, patient virus cases dropped from 3,085 to 2,711 this week, and staff cases dropped from 2,091 to 2,065. It is the second consecutive week patient cases have declined significantly in the state.

The number of staff cases of the virus at the private Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown dropped from 45 to 25 this week after rising last week. The number of inmate cases also dropped — from 18 to nine after also falling last week.

The number of staff cases at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown dropped from nine to seven. Inmate cases remained at eight.

The number of staff cases of the virus at Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg rose from four to nine, and inmate cases remained at one.

erunyan@tribtoday.com