Six months ago, most people would not have immediately thought of cleaning and disinfection supplies as the tool to protect the most vulnerable among us.
But the COVID-19 outbreak proved that indeed they are. Now, at a time of national turbulence, it looks as if vulnerable communities will face a renewed threat of COVID-19.
According to an ABC piece earlier this week:
Nursing homes across the country are bracing for a dark winter as rising coronavirus infections appear to be reversing trends that had showed an improved outlook for the nation’s most vulnerable, an ABC News review of state-by-state numbers reveals.
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In New York, the number of new nursing home deaths has remained low compared to some of the other states where the death count has been raging, but there has been a recent surge in nursing home deaths in the last few weeks. More the twice the number of new nursing home deaths were reported in the last four weeks compared to the previous four weeks.
Research has shown that “adults 60 and older, especially those with preexisting medical conditions, especially heart disease, lung disease, diabetes or cancer are more likely to have severe — even deadly — coronavirus infection than other age groups,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. This reality isn’t isolated to the coronavirus outbreak — our elders will be more vulnerable to all infectious diseases in the future as well.
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Moving forward, nursing homes and long-term care facilities will need to fundamentally reevaluate how they care for the most vulnerable and provide clean, safe environments for our nation’s seniors.
The ABC piece notes:
‘As we move into a second wave, we need to make sure we apply lessons from earlier in the pandemic to curb transmission and save lives,’ said Dr. Jay Bhatt, a practicing internist and ABC News contributor. ‘Infection prevention and prevention measures used by staff and residents will be critical in the coming months.’
As we look to the future, many industries will be seeking to reinvent themselves in the wake of this global disruption. Amidst these shifts, we have an obligation to use every tool available to care for, protect, and support the most vulnerable populations among us. Cleanliness and disinfection are critical tools to mitigating viral and bacterial growth. Let’s make sure we use them!
