North and South Carolina nursing homes report hundreds of coronavirus cases and outbreaks in recent weeks. Hospitalizations and deaths remain steady. Poor infection control make it easy for COVID to spread. Healthcare experts and elder advocates urge long-term care facilities to get all eligible residents and staff a booster shot by year’s end. Early access
The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) provided emergency authorization for an antiviral pill for home use to treat COVID-19 infections. Just in time for Christmas! The Biden Administration committed funds to purchase enough Pfizer pills to treat 10 million Americans. Pfizer’s drug is called Paxlovid. Clinical trials showed the pill results in a 90 percent
Why won’t Republicans protect themselves from the coronavirus? Vaccine skepticism is dangerous. Voting Republican is the single biggest factor in determining vaccination rates. Less than 60 percent of Republicans are protected. Democratic voters have more than 91 percent. The vaccination gap caused a disparity in death rates based on political party. Independents’ vax rate is
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court did not have the authority to block the mandate nationwide. Therefore, long-term care providers in 26 states will have to comply with a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The deadline for healthcare workers remains January 4, 2022. to be fully vaccinated would remain or be adjusted.
Do nursing homes get blanket immunity under the PREP Act? Residents have filed lawsuits for the facilities failures to take reasonable safety precautions to prevent and contain of COVID-19. The failures include violations on failing to monitor food preparation; to provide personal protective equipment; allowing visitors and employees enter without safety precautions. The nursing home
Vaccination is the best safeguard against the highly transmissible Delta variant. 99% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Residents in nursing homes account for a significant number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. There have been 704,233 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. Over 50,000 deaths in nursing homes. Becker’s Hospital Review listed the states with
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