The healthcare industry urged nursing and assisted living homes to dissuade people from visiting those facilities amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Elderly people are far more likely to die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, than younger adults and children. In China, roughly 1 in 5 patients over the age of 80 dies from the disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Officials with the American Health Care Association, a healthcare industry group, told healthcare facilities that treat many elderly individuals to discourage visitors and bar federal officials from entering the facility unless they need to, according to the New York Times.
“The mortality rate is shocking,” AHCA President Mark Parkinson said. Parkinson’s warning comes after COVID-19 killed 18 residents at a long-term care facility in Kirkland, Washington.
The coronavirus “is one of the most significant, if not the most significant” problem the modern healthcare industry has ever faced, Parkinson said.
AHCA’s chief medical officer, David Gifford, said government officials visiting facilities and even staff workers at the facilities should not enter the buildings unless absolutely necessary and should take precautionary measures if they do. All visitors should be thoroughly screened and turned away if they have any signs of illness.
