Despite a sharp overall drop in coronavirus infections in nursing homes in recent months, hundreds of U.S. nursing homes that weathered 2020 without any COVID-19 cases have reported new cases since 2021 began. This happened even though the elderly were among the first to get COVID-19 vaccines during the initial rollout in mid-December, fueling an 83 percent drop in new cases in nursing homes nationwide by early February. In Illinois, new resident cases dropped by 89 percent. Illinois had the largest decrease in cases nationwide in the three weeks after mass vaccinations started in nursing homes nationwide, dropping by 60 percent from Dec. 20 to Jan. 10.