Here & Now

COVID Impact on the Elderly

Frederica Freyberg:

Sam Wilson is the state director of AARP Wisconsin. Thanks very much for being here.

Sam Wilson:

It’s good to be with you, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

So looking at your new dashboard shows Wisconsin is sixth highest in the nation for nursing home deaths due to COVID-19 with more than two deaths per 100 residents. Why is Wisconsin in that place?

Sam Wilson:

We’ve been tracking the data since about June and the data does come from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and it’s self-reported data from the nursing homes. We realize nursing homes have always been one of the most vulnerable populations and congregate living sites for the virus. What we found was that while Wisconsin had done a fairly good job over the summer months, late summer, the acceleration in transmission in these facilities as we get into the fall months is just astounding and we’re really fearful of what the upcoming months will show as well.

Frederica Freyberg:

Your research also shows that Wisconsin ranks fourth worst in the nation, with nearly 40% of nursing homes having less than a week’s supply of protective equipment. So are staff going without or reusing such equipment and then passing along COVID-19?

Sam Wilson:

Well, we know that transmission can be stopped a number of ways, right? Testing people to ensure that they don’t get into the facilities. PPE is one of the preventive measures to ensure that transmission doesn’t occur and stopping community spread. The reason why we really look at PPE is to ensure that there’s an adequate supply in the nursing homes for instances like we are approaching. We know there are many warnings out there right now to long-term care facilities saying we know that all shipping right now is being delayed. Christmas presents are mixed in with PPE. And so if you do not have a week’s supply of PPE, you may find yourself either with a very low or no supply of certain PPE. So the fact of the matter is that that should be the last thing we’re struggling to have to get nine months into the pandemic, yet it continues to be a weak point in all of our strategies to prevent the transmission of COVID.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, I hate to keep rattling this off, but another frightening metric shows that 47% of Wisconsin’s facility have a shortage of nurses and aides. Why are these shortages so acute right now?

Sam Wilson:

Well, this is part of the leaking boat of our long-term care system in general. We had workforce shortages prior to the pandemic and it has exposed what has been a long-term problem in finding enough folks to work in long-term care facilities and throughout both our long-term care and health care delivery systems. So obviously that’s going to be exacerbated by the staff themselves contracting the illness and when you already have a limited supply, anything that could further dent that supply is going to show up. And it’s certainly showing up in a big way in Wisconsin amongst our workforce, which really I have to say, they have truly been heroes throughout the pandemic, providing care day in and day out in our long-term care facilities. I think it only makes sense that we make the commitment to ensure that they can be safe as well.

Frederica Freyberg:

With just a minute left, you’re asking the state of Wisconsin to step up now to save lives. How have officials responded to both the situation and your calls to remedy it?

Sam Wilson:

Well, there’s so much hope in the future. This week the talk about the distribution of the vaccine gave people just sort of a bounce of energy knowing that help is on the way. The problem is we have some very difficult months ahead. It’s true in hospitals. It’s certainly going to be true in nursing home. The data that’s showing the increase of transmission rates and deaths will only increase through the winter months, we believe until that vaccine is really well distributed. So we’re asking providers, we’re asking state health officials and state elected officials, please redouble our efforts on testing, PPE and any other things we can do, including preventing community transmission, which is a very important point, to make sure we keep these nursing home residents healthy and safe until we can get a vaccine to them.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Sam Wilson, thanks very much from the AARP Wisconsin.

Sam Wilson:

Thank you so much.