THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Tuesday, December 1, 2020 |A
WORLD NEWS
spring, deaths are surging
again in the facilities. Excess
mortality has been the high-
est in Europe in recent weeks,
according to Euromomo,
which monitors mortality
rates across the region.
The Italian government
doesn’t yet have data on how
many of those deaths are
among nursing-home resi-
dents, but some regions are
reporting infections in hun-
dreds of the facilities. In the
northeastern Veneto region,
more than 200 nursing homes
had outbreaks, compared with
just 60 facilities during the
first wave of the pandemic,said Roberto Volpe, president
of an association of nursing
homes in Veneto that groups
around 340 care centers.
During the first lockdown,
infections were limited among
personnel because Italy’s
lockdown was so strict, Mr.
Volpe said. Now, more nurs-
ing-home personnel are in-
fecting the residents.
“Every employee goes back
home, lives with people who
go out too, may have kids who
go to school and so can be in-
fected outside of the nursing
home,” he said. “Then they
carry the virus inside the
nursing home.”pitals. Around 22,000 resi-
dents have died since the
start of the pandemic, rivaling
the per capita nursing-home
death toll in the U.S., where
more than 100,000 nursing-
home residents have died, ac-
cording to a Wall Street Jour-
nal tally.
France locked down nurs-
ing homes during the first
pandemic wave in the spring,
when more than 14,000 resi-
dents died. This time, the
government has allowed visits
to continue to avoid the phys-
ical and mental decline that
can set in after an extended
period of isolation.
Depression and cognitive
problems among residents
surged during the first lock-
down, while their physical
condition deteriorated from
being largely confined to their
rooms, health authorities
said.
However, many nursing
homes decided individually to
bar visitors and confine resi-
dents during the second wave,
after being hit with outbreaks.
The virus has entered nurs-
ing homes despite staff being
much better equipped with
masks and other protective
equipment than in March,
when gear was in short sup-
ply and some authorities ad-
vised against wearing masks.
Widespread testing for the vi-
rus—which was unavailable
during the first wave—has
also failed to stop contagion.
“We’re not lacking sanitary
gel, we’re not lacking masks,
blouses or gloves,” said Phi-
lippe Marissal, a doctor who
practices in two nursing
homes in southeast France
that have been hit with out-
breaks. “Despite all this, the
virus has entered
again....We’re missing some-
thing.”
A new round of outbreaks
in nursing homes in Spain has
put the system there underThe coronavirus has re-
surged in Europe’s nursing
homes, killing thousands of
older people and forcing facil-
ities to make a difficult
choice: impose another period
of crushing isolation or risk
greater exposure to the virus.
Nursing-home outbreaks
have dashed hopes that their
residents could be shielded
from the virus when it is
spreading quickly in society
at large. As cases soared
across Europe this fall, nurs-
ing-home personnel and visi-
tors brought the virus in with
them despite strict sanitary
rules, infecting tens of thou-
sands of residents, who are
most vulnerable to the patho-
gen because of their age and
frailty.
Countries such as France,
Belgium and the Netherlands
that closely track nursing-
home deaths have recorded
more than 9,000 since the be-
ginning of October. Other na-
tions such as Italy and Spain
that don’t yet have data on
nursing-home deaths have re-
ported outbreaks in hundreds
of facilities in recent weeks.
In France, one of the hard-
est-hit countries during Eu-
rope’s second wave, 71,
residents of nursing homes
and other care facilities have
tested positive for the virus
since the beginning of Octo-
ber. More than 5,000 resi-
dents have died in the facili-
ties during the second wave,
and an additional 1,500 died
after being transferred to hos-
ByMatthew Dalton
in Paris andGiovanni
Legoranoin RomeNursing Homes
In Europe Fight
SurgeinCases
Rising incidence leaves
facilities with choice
between more isolation
or greater exposure
PIERO CRUCIATTI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES (2)severe stress. After mass
deaths in nursing homes dur-
ing the spring, Spanish facili-
ties are buckling under staff-
ing shortages and additional
sanitary rules to prevent out-
breaks.
“People are not aware of
the speed we need to workat,” said Juani Peñafiel, head
of Madrid nursing-home
workers at the CCOO labor
union. “We just don’t have
time to take care of the resi-
dents properly.”
In Italy, which suffered a
wave of nursing-home deaths
linked to coronavirus in theCovid-19 deaths of nursing-home residentsDaily confirmed Covid-19 deaths per million people,
seven-day rolling average0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,France
Belgium
NetherlandsUp until Aug. 31 Since Aug. 312505101520March July Nov.Belgium
France
NetherlandsNotes: Nursing-home data is through Nov. 22 (France), Nov. 24 (Belgium),
Nov. 29 (Netherlands); deaths per million as of Nov. 30.
Sources: the governments (nursing-home deaths);
European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (deaths per million)Family members visited residents through a partition at a
nursing home in Italy’s northern Veneto region in November.Today’s air is complex.
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