2nd wave could be as grim
Nursing homes must be prioritized to prevent future wave, operators say
Tackling a potential next wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the fall, which public health experts have warned is a real possibility, has been part of the state’s discussion on the reopening of state businesses.
But operators and advocates of nursing homes and assisted living facilities at the forefront of the crisis in Connecticut, say these locations need to be prioritized early on in any future wave of COVID-19 — just as hospitals were in the current one.
If that isn’t done, the second wave could prove just as dangerous for residents and employees at those facilities. As of Wednesday, 958 nursing home patients had died with COVID-19, while another 291 deaths were marked as probably associated with the disease, according to data released by the state.
Even as overflow hospitals in sites across the state were being set up, the state was still wrangling together a nursing home emergency plan — and struggling through the process.
With that in mind, advocates for senior care centers and their workers say funding and access to protective equipment such as masks and gowns will be critical to getting through a potential second wave.
“I think it’s important to recognize that this situation that we have right now — this pandemic, this virus — is unlike the world has ever seen before,” said Dr. Richard Feifer, chief medical officer for Genesis HealthCare, which owns numerous nursing homes in Connecticut.
Feifer was asked during an April 21 press conference what long-term changes homes might make in response to the outbreak.
“So our preparation for ‘the next big one’ if you will — that was your question — needs to be less specific [to] the contagious nature of this virus, or the people who are vulnerable, or how it’s treated, and it needs to be more about the resilience of the system,” he said.
Feifer told Hearst Connecticut Media later in the week that in the future nursing homes — not just hospitals — need to be seen as a priority for distribution of personal protective equipment and testing.
“This has been a serious and rapidly evolving situation playing out across the country,” Feifer said. “It’s so hard to fight what we can’t see, which is why testing everyone in nursing homes is so important: The evidence shows that people can be asymptomatic, yet have the virus and be spreading it unknowingly.”
Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199 New England, a healthcare workers union that represents members in around 30 percent of the state’s more than 200 nursing homes, has raised concern about the lack of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for nursing home workers.
Baril suggested the pandemic should make American society rethink how it treats healthcare workers, who he said are often women who are predominantly black or Latino. “People in these industries should not have to work 80 hours a week, which many of them do, just to keep a roof over their head,” Baril said.
Without proper equipment Baril said the situation at nursing homes in the fall could be a “replay of the apocalyptic circumstances” the state sees now.
“God knows that I hope we don’t make those decisions again, because we know what the outcome will be,” he said.
Advocates for senior care facilities say the homes need more funding.
“The financial challenges are now being experienced,” said Matthew Barrett, president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, a group that advocates for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. “Nursing home occupancy levels are down significantly largely due to hospitals having all focus and attention on COVID-19.”
Because of the virus, nursing homes have lost funding from people who stay while recovering from medical procedures, such as hip and joint surgeries. “However, this is expected to rebound as our state recovers,” he said. The homes also need more money for incentives for staff to work through the pandemic, he said.
Barrett said it is still “too soon” to map out the next six months, but he recommended restrictions on visitors should remain in place over the next few months.
Visitors have been restricted from entering nursing homes since mid-March by an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont, who said publicly he wanted to avoid an outbreak like the one at a home in Kirkland, Washington, where at least 37 people died.
But despite those restrictions, the virus has taken a grim toll among Connecticut’s nursing and assisted living home residents.
On March 18, a man in his 80s who had been living at an assisted living home in Ridgefield became the first person in the state to die after testing positive for COVID-19.
“So our preparation for ‘the next big one’ ... needs to be more about the resilience of the system.”