Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20200401

A28 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 1 april 2020
Virus dead in nursing homes are often its uncounted victims

By LORI HINNANT and ment is bracing for a wave
ARITZ PARRA of sickness in the next 14
Associated Press days, went from forbidding
PARIS (AP) — One by one, visitors to nursing homes on
elderly residents of French March 11 to asking the fa-
nursing homes are going cilities to take even sharper
into forced isolation into measures last weekend.
their rooms. Their caregiv- “I’m asking the establish-
ers are walling themselves ments to isolate residents in
in as well, against both the their rooms,” Olivier Véran,
known and the unknown. France’s health minister,
They are running out of said Saturday. “We have to
body bags. give priority to testing per-
. Governments in Europe's sonnel.”
hardest-hit countries — It- At many nursing homes,
aly, Spain and France — staff members are also vol-
are not routinely testing for unteering to confine them-
coronavirus among elderly selves with their charges
residents who fall ill in nurs- “This is not something we
ing homes or even those do lightly. It’s just that we
who eventually die there, have no choice,” Eric-An-
including those who suf- gelo Bellini, director of a
fered from symptoms of the nursing home in the central
disease. Vienne region, told Europe
The three countries togeth- 1 radio. “Test us! Test all the
er make up around a third staff, the residents!”
of the global pandemic's It is an especially sensitive
confirmed cases, and the subject in France, where
lack of testing leaves hun- every worker is required by
dreds, potentially thou- law to dedicate a day of
sands, of victims of the dis- “solidarity” pay annually to
ease uncounted as health the elderly and disabled af-
authorities try to trace its ter a heat wave in 2003 left
path, The Associated Press Firefighters wearing protective suits wait outside a nursing home before disinfecting it in efforts 15,000 vulnerable people
has found. to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, March 30, 2020. dead across the country.
The heavy dependency Governments in Europe's hardest-hit countries have yet to systematically test the residents of While most people suf-
upon hospitals to count nursing homes or those who receive in-home care. In Spain, Italy and France, which together fer only mild or moderate
coronavirus fatalities poses account for a third of the world's confirmed coronavirus cases, no one knows for sure how many symptoms from COVID-19,
particular problems for eval- people have become sick and died of coronavirus, especially among the elderly. The new the elderly are vulnerable
coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older
uating its spread among adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP to more severe illnesses, in-
the oldest citizens. Hospitals Photo/Felipe Dana) cluding pneumonia.
are increasingly reluctant Associated Press In Spain, soldiers disinfect-
to admit elderly coronavi- tics for the month. the national toll, which so ing homes said they strug- ing nursing homes last week
rus patients judged to have In Madrid, one of the most far only includes those who gled to get residents into discovered that residents
little chance of successful affected cities in Europe, have sought care in a hos- hospitals, and 1 in 4 had at several facilities were liv-
treatment. a leading regional official pital. The government has problems properly isolating ing among the bodies of
Indications are they have acknowledged that the promised to include nursing those who tested positive people suspected of dying
paid a steep toll in ano- coronavirus infection of home residents early this for the virus. from the virus.
nymity. In France, the two one elderly woman was week but has yet to imple- Britain, too, is trying to trace In the United States, sev-
regions hit earliest by the confirmed after her death ment widespread testing the disease among those eral facilities have seen
pandemic reported an only because the nursing of residents. The supply of who never make it to the unusually high death tolls.
over 30% increase in the home’s physician “insist- body bags is dwindling, ac- hospital. The Office for Na- Federal officials found that
number of deaths from ed.” Around the Italian city cording to Marc Bourquin of tional Statistics added 40 staff at multiple long-term
March 1-16 compared to of Bergamo, the epicenter the French hospital federa- deaths Tuesday for a toll of care facilities contributed
the previous year, accord- of the country's outbreak, tion, an umbrella organiza- 210 in England and Wales, to the spread of COVID-19
ing to the national statistics 400 people died in a single tion for half of the country’s to include people who among the elderly in the
agency, which released week in early March — four 7,000 nursing homes. died in nursing homes and Seattle area.
the figures for the Haut-Rhin times the number who died A study by Italy’s national other settings. In multiple nursing homes
and southern Corsica re- the same week the previ- health institute used sam- In Germany, where deaths in France, including one for
gions late last week. Spain ous year, according to the pling to approach the so far have been much Holocaust survivors in Paris,
and Italy have not yet re- Bergamo mayor’s office. question of how many el- lower than elsewhere in Eu- the number of dead reach-
leased initial death statis- Only 91 of those had tested derly in nursing homes died rope and the United States, es into the double-digits,
positive for the virus. with the virus that causes testing is routine for anyone with far more believed in-
In France, once two resi- COVID-19. In the hardest- with flu-like symptoms who fected. The fear is that their
dents of the same nursing hit region of Lombardy, half visited a high-risk area or deaths will go unremarked.
home test positive, any of all residents of nursing had contact with some- “For the nursing homes,
other residents who fall sick homes who died since Feb. one confirmed to have the there will always be uncer-
and ultimately succumb 1 either had the virus or its virus. So if a case appears tainty,” Bouquin said. “The
to the disease are “as- flu-like symptoms, but most in a nursing home and pa- procedure is a doctor has
sumed” to have the illness, only cited flu as tests were tients or staff fall ill, testing is to indicate the cause of
but they are not actually not carried out irregularly. available to everyone. death. And for that, there
tested or counted among About 1 in 10 Italian nurs- France, where the govern- has to be tests.”q