Covid-19 in the United States nursing homes: what's happening?

By Emergency Live Last updated May 8, 2020

According to many sources, the United States nursing homes seems in the grip of Covid-19. The nursing homes’ patients are dying and many workers are getting sick, probably from Covid-19. Why does the situation seem so critical?

The lack of self-protection equipment for Covid-19: nursing homes workers are scared

Many sources, as The Guardian does, are denouncing the precarious conditions in which the nursing homes employees are working. The lack of efficient PPEs is the main cause. However it seems that Covid-19 was racing among the US nursing homes since the half of March 2020. This would explain the escalation of deaths among nursing homes patients.

One of the most trouble of nursing homes is that healthcare workers have to struggle to manage, identify, isolate and treat patients with disease without adequate PPEs, according to many journals. The complaint of healthcare professionals is that they have been left without equipment The John Hopkins University Covid-19 map in the US shows updated data of the deaths and the cases throughout the entire country. Measures aimed at protecting residents from the spread of the disease, meanwhile, have left them even more vulnerable and closed off from the public.

Nursing homes in the US fighting against Covid-19 no matter what

Nurses who work at a facility in Michigan allegdly declared that no tests are made among professionals, so it is impossible to protect themselves and their patients. One of the state that registered a peak of cases is the New Jersey. Here, many residents already lost their life and healthcare workers have somehow are trying to stay healthy, even if they see many colleagues fall ill.

Many nursing homes workers allegedly declared to have been directed not to wear the masks among the residents because they would make them feel bad. According to the last report of the CNN, in New Jersey, many do emergency calls both to the ambulance and the police.

Almost every emergency pick up is like the others. It starts with residents with Covid-19 symptoms such as a high fever or respiratory distress. Then, ambulances take them to the hospital. Unfortunately, the most of them not always can be cured.

The CDC and the Covid-19 guide for nursing homes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidance for nursing homes and long-term care facilities. They recommend to use the reserved face masks for healthcare personnel only.

However, the lack of PPEs is evident and no matter the reports, nutsing homes workers declared that no one had ever prepared them for what has come. Covid-19 is the most dangerous disease of the last century and the professionals who treat the weakest part of the population have not been prepared properly.