On March 23, there were 146 nursing homes known to have outbreaks of COVID-19. Just one week later, that number jumped to 400. Nurses and caregivers have started calling in sick, either because they are infected with the new coronavirus or because they fear working in facilities that lack sufficient safety standards and equipment. Many states, including Connecticut, do not track who has contracted the virus, compounding existing concerns. A recent Washington Post investigation revealed that nationwide, 40 percent of the current 650 nursing homes experiencing outbreaks have had multiple violations of infection control. All of these factors have led COVID-19 to spread like wildfire throughout congregate settings.
Why are nursing homes being hit so hard by the outbreak? One reason is that they are a target of the Trump administration’s aggressive deregulation agenda.
In the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, more than half of cases could be traced to the same nursing home in Washington state. Pretty soon, visitors, firemen, cruise ship passengers, and local priests could all trace their illness to the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington. But what happened in Washington state did not have to become the norm. Continue reading.