Time to Take Action

Today's "pitch" to the Rachel Maddow Show:

It's been a week since I commented on the fact that "outbreaks will occur, it's what you do about them that matters."  Since then, Federal, State, local officials, as well as the nursing home and assisted living industry have called for widespread testing in these settings where vulnerable older adults live. It sounds great. It's also called "plausible deniability."  Everyone is talking about testing the staff and residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the country, but it's not happening.  Even worse, there are still countless facilities that continue to literally resist testing.  I've heard a multitude of stories about doctors ordering testing, only to have their orders countermanded by non-physicians.  It borders on criminal.  In fact, if testing is readily available to a nursing home or assisted living facility, and they are not testing all of the staff right away, it is criminal!

Why aren't we testing?  Why isn't the federal, state and county assuring testing?  Simply put, it's fear. Nursing home and assisted living facility owners are afraid that people will find out that they've had an outbreak, and that they'll be blamed for it. Government officials are afraid that the public will find out that there's been an outbreak, and that they'll be blamed for it.  Who the hell cares if anyone is blamed for this?!  This is a virus, that when it runs rampant in a nursing home or assisted living facility, 30-40% of the people who get it can die!  The staff are the main vector, and we're now talking about "opening up" again.

Here's the most sobering part of this.  A year from now, when the epidemiologists unpack this, we will discover that well over 250,000 older adults in congregate living settings died!  It literally makes me sick to think that we have the potential to test all staff at most nursing and assisted living facilities, and we're not doing it!  Early testing allows us to take action before the virus gets out of hand.  Once that happens, the virus wins.  We can't wait another week or two to start testing the staff in all of these facilities.  It needs to start today!  There's no time for blame. There's no time for excuses.  It's time to take action!