YOUNGSTOWN — The Austinwoods Rehab Health Care nursing home on Kirk Road in Austintown saw a spike in COVID-19 cases this week with 12 cases.

It has the seventh-highest number of cases among nursing homes in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Generally, the number of cases among Ohio nursing homes has been dropping in recent months, especially after most nursing home residents received COVID-19 vaccinations. But Austinwoods appears to be among a handful of facilities in Ohio with a high number of new cases, especially among patients.

Austinwoods had nine patient cases and three staff cases this week. No other Mahoning Valley nursing home or assisted living facility has had more than three combined patient and staff cases in the past two months.

Austinwoods was the only Mahoning County facility with any patient cases this week. In fact, the number of cases at other Mahoning County facilities dropped significantly compared to last week.

A call to the nursing home Thursday for comment was not returned.

SPIKES ELSEWHERE

The highest number of cases in the state this week was at Signature Healthcare of Fayette County, southwest of Columbus, which had 50 patient cases and five staff cases this week, according to ODH.

The Circleville Post Acute nursing home in Pickaway County also saw a large number with 32 COVID-19 cases among patients and 20 among staff. Circleville is just east of Fayette County.

The Laurels nursing home in Massillon has 21 patient cases and six staff cases this week. A nursing home in Monroe County in Southeast Ohio had a combined 17 cases this week, and a nursing home in Huron County near Sandusky had a combined 13 cases. A nursing home in Springfield near Dayton also had 13 cases. Most cases at those facilities were among patients.

VALLEY TOTALS

The total number of virus cases among Mahoning County nursing homes and assisted living facilities dropped this week.

Last week, 23 Mahoning County facilities had 31 cases — 23 among staff and eight among patients. This week — even including the 12 cases at Austinwoods — there were 12 Mahoning County facilities with 24 cases. Of those, 15 were staff cases and nine were patient cases.

In Trumbull County this week, there was one patient case and no staff cases. In Columbiana County this week, there were no patient cases and one staff case.

The number of virus cases among patients at Ohio nursing homes dropped significantly this week.

There were 476 patient cases last week but only 291 this week. The number of staff cases dropped this week from 392 to 318.

The number of deaths at Mahoning Valley nursing homes remained the same as last week — 274 in Mahoning County, 151 in Trumbull and 79 in Columbiana.

Staff cases at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown this week rose from one to two and the number of inmate cases also rose from one to two.

The number of staff cases at the private Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown dropped from two to one, and inmate cases remained at zero.

The number of staff cases at the Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg rose from two to three, and the number of inmate cases remained at zero.

In all of Ohio’s prisons, the number of staff cases of the virus rose from 48 to 51 this week. The number of inmate cases dropped from 57 to 33.

erunyan@vindy.com