Some skilled nursing operators and industry advocates expected occupancy recovery from COVID-19 to occur by the end of 2021, but with the onset of the delta variant and staffing shortages worsening, the newest data shows that occupancy recovery won’t occur until early 2022 at the earliest.
For Milwaukie, Ore.-based Marquis Companies, occupancy recovery delays have made it difficult to plan ahead.
“I often use the analogy of the whole COVID experience as if you’re running a race and you don’t know where the finish line is,” Phil Fogg Jr., president and CEO of Marquis, told Skilled Nursing News. “We’ve constantly had to reset the recovery dates. In March of 2020 I thought I’d be out of it in August of 2020 and it all changed.”