Some facilities have been closed due to Omicron’s violent attack on nursing homes: Shot

The waves of Omicron have hit nursing homes hard, and infections between residents and staff have reached record highs in recent weeks.

Last week, more than 40,000 residents tested positive. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Almost 10 times higher than November. Staff cases hit a record high of over 67,000 in the first week of January, but began to decline last week.

“What we learned in the pandemic is [numbers] Of the COVID cases of the general public, COVID finds a way to a skilled nursing facility, “said Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of the Industry Group. American Healthcare Association..

Deaths are also on the rise, but nowhere in the months before the Covid vaccine is available. When a nursing home suffers a terrible loss.. Last week, 988 deaths were reported among nursing home residents, but only part of the peak deaths in December 2020 (more than 6,000).

“Mainly, our residents are so vaccinated that we don’t see as many deaths as they did long before the pandemic,” he said. Katy Smith Sloan, President and Chief Executive Officer Leading age, A group representing non-profit organizations that provide long-term care for the elderly.

However, these numbers may still increase in the coming weeks.

“Elderly people living in nursing homes have a fundamental health condition,” says Smith Sloan. “They tend to be frail. They live in nursing homes because they need 24/7 care. And since the beginning of this pandemic, it has been the most endangered and changing. We know that there is no population. ”

But unlike the early waves of the pandemic, it is not the death of the resident who is most concerned about nursing homes. Exacerbating the historic labor shortage that the facility was already working on is the outage of staff due to infection.

The slow uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine among staff added another layer to this problem. Vaccination of staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities was initially slow, but some caught up with the vaccination of residents. Currently 84% of staff are fully vaccinated Compared to 87% of residents.

However, the staff are still far behind in receiving the boosters. Only 30% received boosters, less than half the number of boosted inhabitants.

And the staffing situation is affecting the care that residents receive.

“Certainly, the number of calls from residents who haven’t changed and aren’t receiving food on time has increased significantly,” he said. Raleigh Red Face Brewer, New Jersey Long-term Care Ombudsman. “It happens when you don’t have enough staff.”

Recently, Brewer’s office has been complained that the facility has one nursing assistant who cares for more than 50 residents.

“The mandatory staffing ratio in New Jersey is one certified nursing assistant for every eight residents of the day shift,” says Brewer. “Obviously, in situations where the number of residents per certified nursing assistant is in the double digits, people will not get the care they need. That is an impossible task for that nursing assistant.”

She says things aren’t that dire in every care facility, but it’s happening in more places than she’s seen since the early days of the pandemic.

New Jersey is one of several states where the National Guard team is supporting nursing homes and other long-term care facilities due to a dire labor shortage.

Workers say they are feeling “moral pain” Susan Reinhart, Managing Director of AARP Institute for Public Policy.

“If you take care of too many people, you will feel moral pain,” she says. “Like’I’m not doing my best’.” “I can’t do the best job I’ve been trained to do.” “I need the needs of the people I’m supposed to take care of.” Doesn’t meet. “It’s really devastating every day. ”

These conditions contribute to more burnout. And many nursing homes are closed under pressure.

Smith Sloan says he heard two members of her organization conclude the first week of January. “I think there were five (closed) last week,” she says. “And I think we’ll see more of it.”

Many facilities are responding by closing the building and reducing the number of new patients they receive. It is now affecting hospitals and family caregivers.

For one thing, hospitals are backed up because they cannot discharge patients who need to go to a skilled nursing home or nursing home.

“It starts a backup for the entire chain,” says dr David KimLeads a physician company in Providence, a healthcare system based in Renton, Washington. “And you start seeing it come out with a long wait, ER patients in the hallways, waiting rooms, but they can’t get a bed because they aren’t ready to go home. ”

According to data from Careport, which connects patients from more than 1000 hospitals to long-term care facilities, the average length of stay in hospitals for patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities has increased by 21% over the past four weeks compared to 2019. doing.

In addition, the average length of stay for patients discharged from home care has increased by 14% over the same period. “It’s not a trivial trend,” he says. Dr. Missy Hu, Founder and CEO of Careport..

“We are also beginning to see more families begin to pull patients away from nursing homes.”

And it is now putting a lot of pressure on the family, who are the primary caregivers of the elderly’s loved ones, she adds. In particular, home medical institutions are also tackling a dire labor shortage.