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Gériatrie et Psychologie Neuropsychiatrie du Vieillissement

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Confinement of staff with residents in nursing homes: a solution against COVID-19? Volume 18, issue 3, Septembre 2020

Authors
Service de gériatrie, Hôpital Charles Foix, Ivry-sur-Seine, France ; Sorbonne Université, Faculté de Médecine, Paris, France
* Correspondance

The Coronarovirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak strongly affected nursing and was responsible for a high mortality rate. During the pandemic of March-May 2020, 17 French nursing homes organized staff confinement periods with residents 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to reduce the risk of entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into their facilities, in a context where visits to residents were prohibited. By means of a telephone survey of their directors, we observed that 16 nursing homes (94%) had no cases of COVID-19 among the residents, and that mortality from COVID-19 was very low compared to that recorded at the national level by Santé publique France (p<10-4). Moreover, the number of cases of Covid-19 among the staff of these nursing homes was also lower than that recorded by Santé publique France (p<10-4). These establishments experienced certain difficulties which the directors managed to overcome and the investment of these teams was widely appreciated by the families of the residents and through the press.