Those working at long-term care facilities are now being required to undergo COVID-19 infection prevention training. Indiana Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said Wednesday that the goal is to make sure all staff members have received standardized and consistent education.
“The long-term care facilities have already been receiving education from IDOH in weekly and biweekly webinars and newsletters, but this additional education will assure that everyone explicitly understands the steps needed to provide protection to this population,” Dr. Weaver explained.
In addition to helping when facilities report their first resident cases of COVID-19, Weaver said the Indiana Department of Health also visited every facility at the onset of the pandemic and will visit them again by the end of the month.
She said there are often some common themes in facilities that experience outbreaks. “For example, proper mask wearing, the correct screening of employees so that any symptom, that they are sent home until they get a test back, cohorting of residents, et cetera,” Weaver pointed out. “But I do want to add, there’s also facilities that seem to be doing everything right and just by the sheer fact that you have a lot of people that are very vulnerable to getting this disease in these tight, closed spaces, it does just inherently increase the risk of COVID-19 patients.”
More than 8,400 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among Indiana’s long-term care facility residents, with more than 2,000 deaths.
