Nursing home residents account for 1% of the US population. Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes account for 40% of total US deaths.
This is not acceptable.
With better testing, scientists are beginning to understand how pervasive SARS-CoV-2 has truly been. According to the Wall Street Journal, new studies in Europe have discovered “excess deaths” that would place Covid fatality rates much higher than previously modelled, in this case by 26%. The CDC has said as much for the American public, as well. And with 80% of deaths coming from those 80+ years old, this demographic must become the next great priority in our fight against the novel coronavirus. Things like universal testing for this small subset of society may do wonders for reducing harm and death by the virus, and such efforts are almost certainly within our reach.
But instead of action, those most in charge of the situation have refused to take responsibility. The White House blames governors for poor policy moves, for example requiring nursing homes to take on infected patients. And governors demand coordination and funding on a federal level, which has not occured. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) blame subpar health ratings from individual facilities, whereas other researchers suggest otherwise. Progress is far too slow, and nobody wants to take control of the situation. This is not acceptable.
My initial read on the situation aligned with CMS: I worried that lax health standards at certain nursing homes might be a major factor in nursing home outbreaks. This would equate to criminal negligence from the caretakers responsible for the lives of vulnerable Americans. But thus far, the data seems to suggest otherwise. According to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning public policy think tank, there is very high correlation between per-capita Covid deaths within nursing homes and Covid deaths without. In other words, infection rates in nursing homes seem to mirror the rates in their surrounding communities, instead of aligning with specific state-wide policies or nursing home standards. From now, my initial fears of “bad apples” are assuaged.
But this doesn’t leave nursing homes off the hook. And this doesn’t leave states off the hook, either. Here in Southern California, state inspections have not proven effective for safeguarding nursing home residents. On multiple occasions inspectors have given passing grades to care facilities, days before those same facilities announced huge numbers of confirmed cases. If state inspections fail to safeguard the vulnerable during this crisis, then both health standards and the people who enforce them must be reevaluated.
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The elderly remain the demographic of highest risk when it comes to Covid-19. This is not news; we’ve known this since the beginning. And this is reason enough to focus more of our efforts at shielding them from the disease. With businesses reopening and Americans going back to work, it’s time to reprioritize our tests, our training, and our equipment for the people most at risk. Because so far, all of this is not acceptable.
--Jingleheimer-- 