Absolute Homecare 

Impact of COVID-19 on residents

Residents in assisted living communities were greatly impacted by COVID-19 with regard to the number of positive cases of COVID-19 as well as the many restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of disease within these communities. By October, 2020 there were 39 states that publicly reported COVID-19 cases in assisted living communities and 22% of these communities had one or more COVID-19 cases, 27,965 cases among residents and 17,799 among staff.12 Of these cases there were 5.47 deaths in residents and 46 deaths among the staff which accounted for 4.1% and 0.1% of all COVID-19 associated deaths in the general population.12

There are many reasons for the high rates of COVID-19 in these communities including staff knowledge about infectious disease, insufficient personal protective equipment, inadequate or unfair sick leave policies that required sick employees to work increasing exposure of disease to residents and other staff, and no requirements for testing or inadequate testing protocols and resources.13In response to the growing risk and increasing numbers of COVID-19 positive cases, the primary focus of care became the prevention of disease spread and obtaining resources for staff and residents such as personal protective equipment and other relevant supplies.14Guidelines for prevention of COVID-19 prevention varied state by state and were updated in Maryland as shown in Table 1 to help assisted living communities prevent the number of cases contracted among residents and staff.

Regulations required for assisted living facilities during COVID-19 pandemic.

There was some variability as well in terms of how rigidly assisted living communities interpreted and implemented the guidelines.11Differences were based on the environments of the individual communities and options for social distancing. For example, some communities allowed for certain types of resident interactions and activities with social distancing (e.g., watching a movie, playing cards, eating in a communal dining area but sitting at separate tables). Some communities implemented policies that limited a resident's ability to walk freely in the hallways or to access outside areas for walking while others allowed the residents to ambulate in the halls and in designated outside areas.15

Click button for Assisted living regulation.