If have a loved one in a nursing home, this information should concern you. New data from the AARP shows that COVID-19 still has a deadly grip on the nation’s nursing homes. Deaths and cases from residents and staff nationwide have risen for the fourth consecutive month.
“Here in Louisiana we’re seeing cases rise and our deaths have dramatically increased over the last several weeks,” said Andrew Muhl, Director of Advocacy for AARP Louisiana.
He said in Louisiana, resident deaths were up from five in four weeks over June-July to 46 in July-August. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 24 thousand nursing home residents in Louisiana have died from COVID-19.
The AARP is urging those with loved ones in nursing homes to contact the facilities’ staff and ask key questions about COVID in that home.
“Questions such as, has anyone in the facility tested positive in the last couple of weeks. What is the facility doing to prevent outbreaks, and how are staff and other people that are entering the facility being screened for COVID-19?,” Muhl added.
Muhl says that information should be communicated to their residents loved ones one on a regular basis. And while experts say the pandemic has receded in most of the population, Muhl says it’s a different world inside nursing homes.
“The rate of serious infections and serious cases and deaths even are much higher in a nursing home facility are much higher than they are maybe in the general public.”
Muhl says the rates of resident and staff cases have increased nine-fold nationwide over the last four months. He says he is concerned about high staff turnover and possible staff shortages.
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