USA Today - 27.03.2020

“Vulnerable people such as

disabled, older and

chronically ill people are not

expendable. We want to live

and offer a lot to society,

too. People are so ready to

write us off as inevitable

collateral damage when they

don’t realize how resilient

and amazing we are.”

Alice Wong

Director of the Disability Visibility Project

and activist living in San Francisco

Even under normal circumstances –
before the spread of the new coronavi-
rus – Clifton Wallace struggled to get re-
liable home health care on a fixed in-
come.
The Indiana resident, a quadriplegic
who is gradually regaining use of his
arms and legs, relies on a tightly choreo-
graphed routine of four home health
workers to get him through each day.
On March 19, the first worker arrived
on schedule at 7 a.m. to get Wallace out
of bed, bathed, dressed and into his
wheelchair before leaving. Then the
agency called. Wallace’s next home
health aide had a personal emergency
and couldn’t make it. There was no one
to replace her.
Wallace said he sat alone in his
wheelchair for seven hours until the
next worker arrived. He soiled himself
and had no way to do anything about it.
He worried how remaining in the chair
would affect the bedsore on his lower
back.
The 60-year-old said he wonders
whether disruptions in care will become
more frequent as COVID-19 spreads.
And will the home health care workers
who do show up bring the virus with
them?
“I have four strangers coming in my
house,” Wallace said, “and I don’t know
where the hell they’ve been.”
The spread of COVID-19 has added

pressure to the home health care in-

dustry, which more than 10 million

Americans rely on for assistance rang-

ing from getting out of bed to wound

care to physical therapy. Many of those

served are elderly or disabled, a pop-

ulation particularly vulnerable if they

contract the virus. They can’t heed the

central advice for staying safe – social

distancing isn’t possible when you de-

pend on in-home care.

“The very thing they need is the

very thing that could also put them at

risk,” said Tricia Neuman, senior vice

president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family

Foundation.

Home care workers have their own

concerns – of getting a patient sick

while trying to provide quality care,

securing personal protective equip-

ment and paying their own bills when

patients fearful of the virus cancel ap-

pointments.

The home health care sector was

strained for resources far before CO-

VID-19, dealing with hundreds of thou-

sands of patients on waiting lists for

services, worker shortages and low

wages. Multiple states have further re-

stricted access to services by closing

adult day centers. State organizations

designed to protect and advocate for

vulnerable adults have suspended in-

person investigations. Officials are

forced to adapt quickly as the situation

changes.

“It very much feels like we are flying

the plane at the same time that we’re

trying to build it,” said Melissa Keyes,

executive director of Indiana Disabil-

ity Rights. “And the information is

Clifton Wallace, 60, of Indiana depends on the tightly scheduled visits of four home health workers to help him get
through the day. He worries about what the spread of COVID-19 will do to his care. WILLIAM BRYANT ROZIER/USA TODAY NETWORK

Home care industry

struggles for answers

Patients, health workers

worry about virus risks

Marisa Kwiatkowski
and Tricia L. Nadolny
USA TODAY

EDDIE HERNANDEZ PHOTOGRAPHY

SeeHOME HEALTH, Page 2D

It started with a trickle.
Fearing that the coronavirus could
wreak havoc once inside densely
packed jails, local officials across the
country quietly began releasing some of
their most vulnerable, including the el-
derly and chronically ill.
The goal, said National Sheriffs’ As-
sociation president Sheriff Daron Hall,
was to reduce the risk both to prisoners
and officers while freeing up space to
quarantine other inmates who may be-
come infected.

Dozens set free during the first wave

of releases early this month have now

become hundreds as state and local

governments have accelerated their

effortsin recent weeks to guard highly

susceptible prison populations, and the

staff working there, against the spread

of the virus.

In Cleveland, officials have moved

more than 700 prisoners out of the Cuy-

ahoga County Jail in less than two

weeks; near Oakland, California, more

than 250 have been set free; in Nash-

ville, Tennessee, up to 300 have been

Fearing outbreak, jails releasing waves of inmates

Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY

See JAILS, Page 2D

The Bergen County Jail

is in Hackensack, N.J.

ANNE-MARIE CARUSO/

USA TODAY NETWORK

The outbreak “is

forcing us to take

action that we

wouldn’t consider

during normal times.”

Gurbir Grewal

New Jersey attorney general

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – New York

nurses on the front line of the corona-

virus outbreak are afraid their safety

is being sacrificed so hospitals can

stretch dwindling stockpiles of pro-

tective equipment.

Central to the fear are new Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention

guidelines seeking to help hospitals

conserve medical masks as thou-

sands of New Yorkers are infected

with COVID-19, the disease caused by

the virus.

Some nurses asserted hospital offi-

cials asked them to make a typically

single-use surgical mask last a week,

leaving them to store it in paper bags

between shifts.

Other nurses described begging for

access to higher level N95 masks and

watching fellow nurses get quarantin-

ed after suspected COVID-19 expo-

sures amid shortages.

Mostly, they talked of living in con-

stant dread of infecting themselves or

loved ones with the virus that has

killed more than 18,000 across the

globe and confirmed cases mounted

in New York, surpassing 30,000 on

Wednesday.

“We’re really just beginning this,

which is the scary part,” said Mary-

Lynn Boyts, a nurse at Westchester

Medical Center, about 30 miles north

of New York City. “I feel like we’re go-

ing into a battle we’re just not pre-

pared for.”

Even with millions of masks being

distributed since last week in the

greater New York City area, Gov. An-

drew Cuomo warned hospitals could

run out in coming weeks.

“The burn rate on this equipment is

very, very high. I can’t find any more

equipment. It’s not a question of

money. I don’t care what you’re willing

to pay,” he said at a news briefing

Tuesday. Cuomo said about 2 million

N95 masks could shore up supplies at

the hardest-hit hospitals for any-

where from two to six weeks.

NY nurses

see ‘scary’

shortage

of masks

Hospitals’ demands and

CDC guidelines decried

Frank Esposito and David Robinson

USA TODAY

See NURSES, Page 4D

Lori Glazer of Ossining, N.Y., rides the

empty Metro-North train into New

York City during what would typically

be morning rush hour on Wednesday.

Glazerworks as a registered nurse.

SETH HARRISON/USA TODAY NETWORK

For all the latest developments,

visit coronavirus.usatoday.com.

Your one-stop portal

for the news you need

NATION’S HEALTH

USA TODAY | FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2020 | SECTION D

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