Fighting the tragedy of nursing homes in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the last months, the pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has hit cruelly elderly citizens living in nursing homes (NHs) across the world. As a matter of fact, NHs are highly vulnerable to the occurrence of this new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which results in high lethality rates. In addition, most of the long-term care facilities are not yet prepared to manage with this new epidemiological and clinical scenario. In this article, we will review the impact of COVID-19 in NH, its causes and underlying factors, and the possible solutions of keeping SARS-CoV-2 at bay in NH from a triple perspective: the focus of public health policies and global measures, the operative level at NH institutions themselves, and the daily clinical scenario of clinicians and other health care workers.

Keywords

• Coronavirus disease-19. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Community-based long-term care. Frailty. Multimorbidity. Nursing homes.