The second surge in coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes can be “catastrophic” to hospitals. Coronavirus

As a new case Coronavirus Increased across Louisiana over the last few weeks, hospitals and public health officials are nervous about whether increasing numbers of cases in so many communities will affect state nursing homes. ..

Many state hospitals, including the largest facility in Louisiana, have been re-tensioned by the influx of diagnosed patients since the state began to loosen home order and allow businesses to resume. Hospital managers fear that outbreaks in nursing homes could suddenly overwhelm the healthcare system, especially in hotspot cities.

“It can be catastrophic,” said Dr. Amy Gialsso, deputy director of hospital medicine at Our Lady of Lake Regional Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, the state’s largest hospital. “One of the large nursing homes can literally fill a hospital and take all the beds we have in case of a severe outbreak.”

Group homes for the elderly were hit hard in the early stages of the pandemic. Shortly after the state discovered its first case, the risks faced by the elderly emerged. By late March, the virus quickly sickened many inhabitants of Lambeth House, New Orleans’ senior retiree community, killing more than 12 people in a matter of weeks.

The virus has spread to other Louisiana group living facilities. Southeast Louisiana veterans’ homes in the Saint John the Baptist Parish saw some deadly outbreaks at the end of spring after more than 28 inhabitants had died by early May. According to state records, the institution reported 80 and 33 deaths since the outbreak began, but no new cases or deaths have occurred since early July.

In the early pandemic Baton Rouge, Jarusso said that about half of the Virgin’s patients on the lake came from institutions such as nursing homes, prisons and prisons. However, more recently, residents of nursing homes account for only about 5-10% of patients at flagship hospitals.

The most important hospital concern is the scenario where nursing homes are again struck by the virus. To do so will need to accommodate more patients who are more likely to have more severe symptoms. As a result, the hospital stay will be longer and more advanced care will be required.

In Louisiana, high blood pressure remains a fundamental health condition for fatal coronavirus cases, followed by diabetes, obesity, kidneys and heart disease. Residents of nursing homes tend to be older, and most of them have at least one of the conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus-borne disease COVID-19.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus through Louisiana prisons earlier this month prompted the correctional authorities to test all inmates and staff…

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, personal injury in nursing homes has accounted for approximately 40% of all deaths in Louisiana since May, with more than 1,500 deaths last week.

While the overall coronavirus case in Louisiana seems to have plateaued in the past week, state leaders and health officials have found that the prevalence of the virus per capita is high in all 64 parishes. States.

The number of available hospital beds has also declined in nearly every region of the state as cases have increased since the relaunch of Louisiana in May.

According to the Department of Health, regional hospitals that cover most of the Baton Rouge region had only about 30 intensive care beds available at the end of last week. Recent hotspots, especially Acadiana and Lake Charles, have even fewer beds and less total patient space than New Orleans or Baton Rouge.

Data from the Department of Health analyzed by The Advocate show that cases of long-term care in the Acadiana and Lake Charles regions have seen a dramatic increase in cases over the past few weeks. In these areas, large outbreaks were largely spared this spring when infections of communities and nursing homes centered on New Orleans and other population centers.

Acadia Parish sees the largest increase in new coronavirus cases with 74 infections reported among 767 nursing home residents in the latest Health Department figures from the last week of July to August 4. It was. New case at Crawley’s 112-bed facility.

At the same time, the East Baton Rouge Parish nursing home had a much smaller number of new cases, with 74 out of approximately 2,175 residents reporting new cases. Census.

Retirement homes in Louisiana, as well as many facilities for the elderly and sick, took immediate action in early March to prevent the virus. Some of the steps still in place included banning all outside visitors and regularly inspecting employees and residents for signs of infection.

Giarrusso said that a small number of nursing home patients requiring hospitalization could treat and isolate residents in the facility and better contain the outbreak if it occurred. I believe in

“Many of those people didn’t even have to be in the hospital,” she said. “They just had to get them out of the nursing home before they could infect others.”

She also says that the bottleneck is still access to testing and protective equipment for workers, fading in inconsistent supply lines.

Coronavirus testing has been very scarce since the outbreak of the state, and it is difficult to know if residents of nursing homes may have been infected with the virus and have developed some immunity to the virus.

In addition, all certified nursing homes were required by test workers and residents, which allowed them to eradicate infectious diseases prematurely and isolate residents.

“It changed the whole situation as soon as they had access to the test,” Jaralso said.

In some cases, even residents of nursing homes were tested positive for the virus and had no symptoms, she said, which bothered health care providers about why the virus saves certain people from serious illness. No

However, people who do not seem to be affected by the virus have a better understanding of how the virus can spread, and the importance of wearing a mask and taking other precautions while in the vicinity is important. Highlighted

Nursing homes, like places like prisons and prisons, are particularly vulnerable to outbreaks because people live close to each other and employees frequently interact with multiple residents. ..

After authorities screened and found 200 inmates at the Elayn Hunt Correction Center in May, further evidence was shown of how quickly the virus could be transmitted in these settings. 85% of inmates The St Gabriel prison was infected with the virus, but many were asymptomatic.

“Not all people are medically vulnerable,” said Susan Hassig, a Tulane epidemiologist who specializes in infectious diseases.

Understanding the extent of coronavirus infections in nursing homes was difficult to determine.

The public health center in May released data on individual institutions throughout Louisiana. More than 23,880 people lived in nursing homes. Includes total and deaths, and number of infected workers.

Nursing Homes population has declined over the past four months. This may be due to several factors, such as the facility not accepting short-term patients who require postoperative rehabilitation while the hospital is not performing certain surgeries.

The latest figures show that 7,406 nursing home residents are virus positive. This means that about 30% of Louisiana’s nursing home residents were virus-positive at some point in time, according to the earliest census numbers in May.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was higher than that,” Hassig said.

However, it is difficult to determine accurate data on the extent and magnitude of infection, and comprehensive studies have not been conducted in Louisiana or even in some dioceses.

One potential option for understanding the reach of viruses in a state is to test the blood of all residents for signs of antibodies. This indicates that someone’s immune system has responded to the new virus.

However, Hassig points out research that suggests that antibodies can decline after a person is infected with a coronavirus, and he notes that tracking who is infected and whether someone gets twice sick. Making it difficult.

Still, it is unclear if that is the case and how long it will take for protective antibodies to decline.

The key to preventing the surge in hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic is for nursing homes to maintain their policy against the virus until highly effective treatments and vaccines are developed.

“It’s really important to keep it from a nursing home,” Giarrusso said. “I think we’re all well now because the nursing homes are now better equipped and we have come up with ways to isolate them.”