# Covid-19 and nursing homes



## elacsaplau (13 Aug 2020)

Are the stats available as to:

- How many people were infected in NH?
- How many were transferred to hospital?
- How many died in hospital?
- How many died in NHs?

I'm particularly interested in the number who died in NHs and what the protocols around this. Specifically, why these patients were not transferred to hospital - who made these decisions and on what basis/criteria?


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## odyssey06 (13 Aug 2020)

There was an RTE primetime programme about the issue, seems to be a transcript here, you may be able to dig out some answers:








						Two months: How Covid-19 hit Ireland's nursing homes
					

To try to understand the decisions made, Prime Time has gone back through minutes, documents, correspondence and press conferences over the key two months of February and March, which led up to Ireland's nursing home crisis.




					www.rte.ie


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## elacsaplau (13 Aug 2020)

Thanks odyssey06,

Excellent article but does not address specific questions.


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## Purple (13 Aug 2020)

One of the first outbreaks in Nursing Homes globally was in Seattle. The reason for that is it is standard practice to give oxygen to patients with breathing problems. The machines used for this usually have an integrated humidifier. The air that the patient breaths out is not filtered, therefore this treatment resulted in the aerosolization of the virus and its rapid spread within the nursing home. 
That notwithstanding giving oxygen to patients reduces the numbers who end up on an ICU Ventilator by 50% so clinically it's the right treatment.
The solution was invented by an Italian doctor and his friend who designed a valve to modify a full face diving mask to use with the oxygen delivery machine. They designed and 3D printed it in a matter of hours. Problem solved and who knows how many lives saved.    More  

I would be interested to know if Irish Nursing Homes made the same mistake at the start of the pandemic.


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