Controlling infectious diseases in facilities; is this common where you live?

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Controlling infectious diseases in facilities; is this common where you live?

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This is a topic that comes up every winter among my acquaintances because local facilities (ALs) are closed during respiratory outbreaks (I believe the threshold is more than 3 active cases), usually for weeks at a time but sometimes for months. That means visits are discouraged, all group activities are cancelled and in some cases congregate dining is as well, more or less amounting to house arrest for some of the people living there who don't have the ability to leave the site. I've never seen any complaints here on the forum about this and I'm curious, is this common where you live? If not what is done differently?

Assisted Living Flu Senior Health

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I totally get quarantining the people that are sick GA, that only makes good sense.

What I question is locking down the whole place and banishing healthy people to virtual house arrest, especially when the number of people affected low. I really believe that staff showing up for work when they are sick and/or moving from room to room taking shortcuts with quarantine protocols (which I observed first hand) is a much more likely vector of transmission.

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But lots of people imagine that they are healthy when they are in fact starting cold/flu. "It's just a few sniffles" could mean pneumonia to an elder.

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My dads facility did not implement any quarantine procedures and when one person got sick, everyone got sick. I wish they would have taken precautions to protect residents from contagious illnesses.

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So far this year the nursing home my mom is in has only been on quarantine once, for about a week, because of the flu. The residents are not allowed outside of their rooms, not even allowed to go to the beauty shop. I can’t imagine how awful it is to be stuck in one of those small rooms for that long! Last year, there was a two week quarantine. Visitors are allowed to drop things off for the residents, but we’re not allowed past the receptionist desk.

Infection control is definitely important, but despite best efforts this kind of thing is going to happen.

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This happened once in the four years my mother was in a NH. There was a flu outbreak despite flu shots being given. They did a deep cleaning and kept everyone away for a week. We could call and residents who were able could talk on phone. Infection control is important, maybe ask what additional cleaning is being done?

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Hopefully this is standard practice. Many elders are very vulnerable to respiratory infections and for sure too many visitors are not realistic and conscientious about limiting their visits when they should. Fairest thing to all is to limit risk. Why not use SKYPE in a situation like this?

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I suspect a lot of the residents aren't in a position to skype. Many might not have computers or other modern electronic devices, know how to use them, or even still be mentally capable of using them. Most residents of the nursing homes are of the "silent generation" (so-called in the US) who were born in 1945 and earlier.

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Overreacting is better than underreaction. Afterall, this is a an elderly, not so strong anymore immune system population. There is also the matter of liability on the part of the facilties owners & management so many see fit to take all precautions neccessary.

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My father's MC went on "restricted" visitation during flu season in the area or when a resident in either wing (AL or MC) became ill. The sick residents were required to remain in their room at any sign of illness and the common rooms were thoroughly cleaned daily instead of weekly. The daily cleaning included wiping down every table/counter surface, chair arms and seats, light switches and the like. The thorough cleaning included cleaning chair and table legs, window sills, just about every possible surface. Visitors were allowed, but only after being screened by a nurse or aid who took your temperature and accessed you for illness, including asking questions about anyone ill at home or your work. You could drop things off for the residents if they were "sealed" (no open packages) but any clothing or blankets were washed by the facility before being given to the resident. I provided a lot of cooked meals/food for my father's salt restricted diet and they accepted the food I brought, but they did wipe down each container. My brother didn't like the MC wouldn't allow the foam plate containers of food from a grocery meal bar in, but would allow a meal "plated" in a restaurant kitchen or even one picked up from a drive thru, although I saw them wipe down the containers. My understanding is there was a plan for a complete quarantine where no visitors or outside food/supplies would be allowed, but that was never implemented during my father's stay.

I thought these were reasonable safe guards. There were never more than 4 residents in my father's MC wing (out of 32-34) ill at once and no one died from illness or its complications. The staff didn't have much illness and that was very important to being able to maintain good care for the residents. My father had the flu once and the MC required an extra "half" attendant (1 attendant for 2 residents) during the 3 days of his acute illness and an extra cleaning fee when he recovered (I was surprised his supplemental insurance covered the extra fees). Generally, I dropped things off for my father, spoke to the staff and to my father over the phone and didn't physically visit him much during restricted visitation. I was as concerned about bringing illness home as taking some illness into the MC.

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Restrictions for a period of time, yes, but lockdown for MONTHS on end sounds out of line. Also, cleaning should be increased, not basically STOPPED. True quarantines, I believe, must be reported to the health department (for CDC statistics). You may want to ask someone in the NH's county about this.

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Just today at my dad's NH, they diagnosed two cases of the flu on his floor (there are 50 residents on his floor, all single rooms). There was a sign in the elevator that asked that visits be limited, but there were many, many visitors and between visitors and staff, I only saw one mask. The ward clerk offered masks when we went to visit said we could stay or we could go, wear the mask or not. They also said they're starting all residents on Tamiflu, with permission from family, to try and head off the spread.

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Even in Independent Living facilities-- it was like rolling tidal wave-- yeah most of us went down. AND SUFFERED. And the county never sent a Visiting Angel ! My mother was in such bad shape and I was there in equally bad shape, throwing up and all. I think the truth was no one wanted to be exposed to us or anyone else. So we had to muddle on from within, without any help except my sister who left Gatorade outside the door, bananas, white bread, apple sauce, and cooked white rice which helped alittle…. it was long week many years ago in 2012 while I kept watch over my mother in her 13th year of dementia.

Controlling infectious diseases in facilities; is this common where you live?

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