COVID-19 containment management strategies in a nursing home

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To describe the first COVID-19 pandemic at Casa Ondina Lobo, a philanthropic nursing home in São Paulo city, and the containment measures against the pandemic that proved to be effective.

Methods:

Several preventive measures were taken before and during the pandemic, with emphasis on universal testing by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for COVID-19. All residents and employees were tested twice in a D9 period.

Results:

Among the 62 residents and 55 employees, in both testing, eight residents and nine employees tested positive for COVID-19. Of 22% of employees and 75% of residents evolved asymptomatic, emphasizing the importance of universal testing for the detection and isolation of these cases. A quarter of residents evolved without any symptoms, however, with COVID-19 signs, reinforcing the importance of monitoring vital signs. The second testing did not detect any new cases among residents, demonstrating the effectiveness of the containment measures, however, it found four new cases among employees. This emphasized their role in COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes. Only one patient died, a 12.5% lethality among those known to be infected and a 1.6% mortality in the total population of residents were seen.

Conclusion:

The adoption of appropriate containment measures enabled to contain an COVID-19 pandemic in studied nursing home. Universal reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing for COVID-19 has proved to be particularly important and effective.

Keywords:
Coronavirus infections; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Infection control; Communicable disease control; Nursing homes; Homes for the aged; Polymerase chain reaction; Carrier state