NURSING HOME ADVOCATES URGE MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING FOR HOLIDAYS

Coronavirus cases eclipse 300,000 nationally among those living in facilities

As cases of the novel coronavirus among nursing home residents broke yet another milestone i n the United States this week, health care professionals are asking the public to take extra precautions, especially with Thanksgiving on the horizon.

Nationally, there have been 311,530 conf irmed and 160,957 suspected cases of COVID-19 among nursing home residents repor ted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Ser vices. CMS also repor ted this week that as of Nov. 8, there have been 67,543 residents at facilities across the country who have died from the virus.

In a video statement released this week by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, president and CEO Mark Parkinson stressed that social distancing and wearing masks — especially during the holiday season — is essential to protecting vulnerable populations within nursing homes.

“Our worst fears have come true. As COVID has run rampant across the country, nursing homes have become powerless to keep it from entering into our buildings,” he said. “Because it’s spread by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers, as long as people are irresponsibly acting in the general public, we just can’t stop it.”

AHCA and NCAL represent 14,000 skilled nursing centers, assisted living communities, subacute centers, and homes for those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Advocates for the two organizations are asking Congress to take several actions to help nursing homes f ight the virus. This i ncludes requests to add $100 billion to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Provider Re