Coronavirus and Nursing Homes: The Updates, Concerns, and Moving Forward

Coronavirus has starkly highlighted the need to ensure that seniors living in nursing homes are being properly cared for. Though great care is always a concern, the nature of the pandemic has added challenging layers to making sure our most vulnerable populations are adequately protected. Your family can be entitled to legal action if this has not been the case for your loved one in senior care.

Where Nursing Homes Stand

Throughout the pandemic to date, the highest death toll has been felt in nursing homes. In Illinois, for example, for every 1000 residents of a long term care facility, there have been nearly 44 fatalities recorded due to coronavirus. That heartbreaking statistic is due to many factors, including the necessity for close contact with caregivers and multiple risk factors that increase by age and fragility. At this point, we must ask how nursing homes are protecting our most vulnerable loved ones. 

Ongoing Concerns

If you have a loved one currently residing in a nursing home, you’re likely highly invested in determining if the facility is adequately testing and isolating COVID patients, and protecting the rest of the facility population. A facility that functions with care and attention for residents should have a comprehensive plan in place, including PPE when applicable, appropriate protocol for identifying COVID cases, and even modifying the physical space when necessary to promote social distancing as much as possible.

Moving Forward

As wrenching as it may be, if you believe that your loved one’s passing from COVID-19 may have been due to neglect on the part of the facility where they contracted the illness, please reach out to our team. Our goal is to ensure that families are provided the highest level of legal support in cases of abuse and neglect – before, during, and after this pandemic. 

If you’d like to talk with our team in a free consultation, please give us a call. We are here for you.