Nursing homes and the Coronavirus
The coronavirus that began in Wuhan, China has become a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than one million around the world. Most of the people that have succumbed to the deadly virus are the elderly. It has been noted that the elderly have a unusually higher death rate from coronavirus than younger people. This has lead many governments around the world to initiate measures that will protect the elderly.
The death rate of of people who are in care homes around the world is disproportionately high. This is due to older people having a weaker immune system and underlying medical issues.
Nursing homes and measures to protect the elderly.
Nursing homes in New York have faced a lot of scrutiny from politicians and the public due to the high death tolls recorded. This has led governments around the world to issue strong measures that will protect residence of care homes. Visitation during lock downs was banned in most jurisdictions. This was intended to stop loved ones transmitting the coronavirus to the elderly. Entry into nursing homes was restricted to staff only. Even then the staff members had to be tested on a regular basis. This ensured that non of the staff members could infect the old and frail.
In the Netherlands some elderly care nursing homes started offering video conferencing as away for loved ones to see each other. This helped the elderly to cope with mental illnesses and to have a social life.
Nursing homes in the future
The way nursing homes respond to virus outbreaks is going to change in the future. Let’s hope many nursing homes learnt a huge lesson from the coronavirus out break. Governments in particular will have to roll-out new laws protecting the elderly in nursing homes. This will prevent the 2020 disaster!
