Facilities for elderly people are at high risk for the spread of novel coronavirus infections. It is important for the central and local governments to establish a system to prepare thoroughly to prevent the collapse of nursing care services.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, mass infections are believed to have taken place at 66 facilities for the elderly. If they are infected with the virus, their condition can easily turn serious. It is necessary to keep a close watch on the infection situation at these facilities.
Staff members and the elderly people they serve have to be in close contact when staffers help them with meals, bathing, using the toilet and other needs. In some cases, people with dementia have difficulty in correctly putting on and taking off masks or informing staffers of problems with their physical condition. Facilities for the elderly are the most vulnerable to an expansion of infections.
Each facility should prepare disinfectants and protective clothing, and take thorough preventive measures, such as frequently checking the temperature of staff members and others. It would be effective to provide employees with preventive education, and to consult experts on infectious diseases to decide on how to deal with possible infections.
In the event of a mass outbreak of infections, local governments need to establish a careful initial response system in which they not only dispatch doctors and others, but also promptly conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on employees and elderly clients, among others.
It is important to maintain the facilities' functions as much as possible and continue to provide services to clients, even if infected people are found there.
More than a few facilities were unable to provide sufficient nursing care services as staff members who had close contact with infected people could not come to work, causing a personnel shortage.
The Kanagawa prefectural government has established a system to register in advance nursing care workers who can provide support and dispatch them to facilities that find themselves short-staffed due to infections. Under the system, the prefectural government will subsidize labor costs.
Each local government should use such examples as a reference points for considering effective methods that suit their circumstances.
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the central government has asked facilities for elderly people to restrict meetings between clients and their families and others, except in emergencies. It intends to subsidize the cost of establishing a telecommunications environment to encourage the introduction of "online meetings" over the internet.
Although temporary restrictions on meetings are unavoidable, it is pointed out that there are concerns that elderly people will lose their zest for life, consequently sliding into physical and mental decline. Hopefully, various ways will be contrived to ease clients' anxieties.
To maintain nursing care services, it is an urgent task to improve employees' working conditions. Many people quit such jobs after finding it difficult to continue due to a lack of manpower and a fear of being infected with the virus.
In the supplementary budget for this fiscal year, the central government has established a system to provide nursing care workers with a special remuneration of up to 200,000 yen. There must be no discrimination or prejudice against employees or clients at facilities where infected people are found. It is hoped that continuous efforts will be made steadily to support nursing care throughout all of society.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Aug. 14, 2020.
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