The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on many parts of the economy, but perhaps no industry has been more affected than retirement communities and nursing homes. In the early days of the pandemic, retirement communities were sites of the first COVID-19 clusters, and the virus spread quickly among people living in these locations. However, many nursing homes in California have adapted to the new normal that has resulted in the wake of COVID-19. These facilities are providing better and safer care to residents than at the beginning of the pandemic.
For instance, many senior living communities in California have adopted testing protocols that ensure residents and staff are tested for COVID-19 at regular intervals. This helps keep everyone safe from the virus and gives staff and residents peace of mind that they do not have the virus and cannot spread it to loved ones or others in the community.
Moreover, many retirement homes in California are implementing state-of-the-art nurse call systems to provide better senior care. Residents of retirement communities need easy access to nurses to live fuller and healthier lives, and this is especially true if residents are experiencing any of the symptoms of COVID-19. These new state-of-the-art systems help nurses stay apprised of residents’ status and give residents peace of mind that a trained nurse can provide them assistance at a moment’s notice.
Moreover, many nursing homes in California have decreased their communities’ population density to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19. When individuals live near each other, there is a higher chance that someone with COVID-19 can come into contact with more people who may be exposed to the virus. As a result, many nursing facilities have minimized the number of people they keep in rooms and the number of residents that are located in wings of facilities to ensure that if one resident is exposed to the virus, there is less of a chance that numerous other residents and staff will also be exposed to the virus.
Similarly, many nursing homes in California are limiting the number of residents nurses interact with daily. Before the pandemic, it was not uncommon for nurses and staff to interact with many residents and even travel to different facilities to interact with residents that are part of the same affiliated retirement communities. However, this increases the number of people a staff member can expose if they contract COVID-19. By limiting the number of interactions between staff and residents, retirement communities can help contain outbreaks of COVID-19 whenever they arise.
Many California nursing homes also practice strict quarantine procedures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. If a staff member tests positive for the virus or they experience symptoms of COVID-19, they are asked to go home. Indeed, depending on their test results and other factors, staff will be asked to remain at home for up to two weeks to ensure that they do not have COVID-19 and cannot infect community members. Also, if a resident tests positive for COVID-19, they are immediately quarantined, and all efforts are made to ensure that the infected individual does not interact with other residents and staff.
These are trying times for everyone, especially for residents and staff at California nursing homes. However, many facilities institute policies to keep residents and staff safe for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic.