Covid 19 in Institutional Settings
In jurisdictions around the nation, Covid 19 is way too often the death knell for mothers and fathers, grandparents confined in nursing home settings. LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer today recommended to those families who can take their loved ones home to do so on a temporary basis until the immediate crisis has passed. For most that is thoroughly impractical, they cannot provide the level of needed care at home.
So what can and should be done for these patients and those who provide their daily care. It seems as if some of the $100 billion in the federal stimulus package for providers could be very quickly directed to testing, cleaning, thoroughly sanitizing and repeat in institutional settings for those most vulnerable among us.
If South Korea could test everyone before they entered large office buildings, why can’t we do so for the much smaller numbers going in and out of these nursing homes and long term care facilities each day. Abbot Labs says it has a five-minute test, and some cities are already deploying it for first responders. https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/01/detroit-to-be-first-to-deploy-abbott-labs-5-minute-covid-19-test-mayor-says/
The same approach makes sense for juvenile centers, county jails and state and federal prisons where the incarcerated are held for crimes, but should not be subjected to death sentences. Likewise immigrant detainees being held in tight quarters in immigrant detention centers and their custodians could benefit from rapid deployment of testing and thorough cleansing of the centers. Women’s domestic abuse centers and homeless shelters need the same consistent testing and deep cleaning, and so do institutional settings for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 4/8/20