The data show a clear picture of the devastation caused by the pandemic in long term care facilities. While residents of such facilities account for only 8% of COVID cases, deaths from long-term care cases account for nearly 40% of all COVID fatalities in the US (the majority of those being in nursing homes, with about 30% being in assisted living facilities). What’s even worse is that those facilities with a higher proportion of residents from communities of color have a higher share of deaths than the long term care community as a whole. There’s simply no way to adequately describe the severity of this pandemic for so many residents, families, and staff. And not just the physical devastation but the emotional toll that the shut-downs and social isolation have caused.  A recent survey sponsored by Altarum is one of the few sources of insight that come directly from long term care residents, and it reflects this devastation. Survey results show a significant reduction in residents’ interaction with both their own community and their family as a result of the pandemic, and their social connections both within and outside the facilities have dropped dramatically. Their despair is heartbreaking and horrific. As one resident stated, “I feel worthless and most days I feel like giving up, and I’m usually an upbeat positive person. The facility needs to create a safe way for me to see my spouse and not keep me locked up in my tiny room. Hopefully I won’t die from the way I’m now being treated.” 

And presently, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are gearing up for more COVID, as another spike in cases has affected the majority of states and facilities not only face coronavirus upticks, but the arrival of flu season and continued inaction on the federal level. While we know more about how to treat the virus than we did earlier in the pandemic, many facilities are still struggling with decisions about how and whether to restrict visitors and how locked-down they need to be in order to limit viral spread. What’s more, it appears that many of the nation’s 15,000 long-term care facilities still lack sufficient PPE protections for residents and staff despite the fact that we’re seven months into this pandemic. Even in those facilities that are making valiant efforts at infection control, there is still the unfortunate factor that due to low wages, many of the hands-on staff of long term care facilities must work several jobs, and travel back and forth between facilities, thus providing one more way for the virus to spread both within nursing homes and in the surrounding communities where staff reside.

All this adds up to a tragic situation for residents, families, and staff. And yet, for many families, gaining admission to a facility for a loved one is a necessity- either due to the level of impairment of the patient or because of the finances of the family. And so, despite the pandemic, many will need to consider and investigate long term care facilities for a family member. If you face such a situation it’s useful to know that the newest nursing home ratings from US News were just released and should provide helpful information about such selection criteria as staff to resident ratio, infection control measures and ratings, and COVID-specific policies and protocols. To find out more, plug in your zipcode here.