CDC report

Virus-ridden workers spread
death to nursing patients

Once pathogen enters elder care facility, it can
result in high attack rates among residents,
staff members and visitors, say probers;
Report shows that non-elderly are at little risk

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The federal Centers for Disease Control reports that Washington State nursing home deaths were related to staff members working while having unrecognized symptoms of Covid-19, and to their having poor infection control practices.

The CDC said,

Information received from the survey and on-site visits identified factors that likely contributed to the vulnerability of these facilities, including

1) staff members who worked while symptomatic;

2) staff members who worked in more than one facility;

3) inadequate familiarity and adherence to standard, droplet, and contact precautions and eye protection recommendations;

4) challenges to implementing infection control practices including inadequate supplies of PPE and other items (e.g., alcohol-based hand sanitizer)§; 5) delayed recognition of cases because of low index of suspicion, limited testing availability, and difficulty identifying persons with COVID-19 based on signs and symptoms alone.

The CDC report said:

These findings demonstrate that outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities can have a critical impact on vulnerable older adults. In Washington, local and state authorities implemented comprehensive prevention measures for long-term care facilities (7–9) that included

1) implementation of symptom screening and restriction policies for visitors and nonessential personnel;

2) active screening of health care personnel, including measurement and documentation of body temperature and ascertainment of respiratory symptoms to identify and exclude symptomatic workers;

3) symptom monitoring of residents;

4) social distancing, including restricting resident movement and group activities;

5) staff training on infection control and PPE use; and

6) establishment of plans to address local PPE shortages, including county and state coordination of supply chains and stockpile releases to meet needs. These strategies require coordination and support from public health authorities, partnering health care systems, regulatory agencies, and their respective governing bodies (8–10).

The findings in this report suggest that once COVID-19 has been introduced into a long-term care facility, it has the potential to result in high attack rates among residents, staff members, and visitors.