I caught some interesting statistics on how deadly Covid-19 isn't this morning on Radio 4 - Today 7th Jan 7.35 GMT if you# Header 1 want to listen to the news item.
The item followed questions BY Liz Saville Roberts MP yesterday about how damaging covid-enforced isolation is for dementia patients in care homes. Currently, if 2 staff test positive for Covid, care homes have to go into restrictive measures, which basically means pretty much EVERY care home is in this situation ATM given the current infection rate with Omicron.
People in care homes are still allowed to receive vistors, but only if they are a 'registered care giver', as I understand it - so for dementia patients, children can still visit their parents in care as 'human contact' is regarded as essential for their well-being, but still hours are limited and reduced on what would normally be the case.
This can have a detrimental affect on especially dementia cases, but also people in care more generally, and there are a lot of lonely and miserable people in care homes at the moment because of an over-zealous government policy which, in the words of the Chief Executive of FourSeasons Care Homes 'hasn't evolved with Omicron'.
He quoted some of his statistics from last year - they'd had just over 2000 deaths in their care homes, which was below the four year average - yes, BELOW the four year average, and around 1.5% were people dying with Covid. For the last few months, the figures for people dying WITH covid are less than 1%.
Whatever you think about the origins of Covid or vaccinations it certainly seems that the government's current policy of restricting visits to people in care homes where two members of staff have tested positive is doing more harm than good.
In fact people have been talking about care home residence dying of loneliness caused by the Government's response to the Pandemic for several months already.
As something of an aside it makes me sick to the back teeth that the government is doing this to the elderly - I mean to think that you can end up in a situation where who you are allowed to see is directly controlled by the state is TERRIFYING, I mean it's WORSE than being subjected to state education.
My mother had a stroke last Spring (shortly after receiving the 1st jab, spookily enough) and spent several months in a care home to recuperate. For the first two weeks (!) she was isolated to her room. I was told this was standard procedure for anyone transferred there from hospital. I was shocked that people who are at their most vulnerable are being deserted and cut off from basic human contact for such a long time. Often, the whole place was totally locked down, no visitors at all for ten days and all because just one asymptomatic staff member got a positive result. Nobody was ill. The effect on residents, many of whom had dementia, was truly heartbreaking. The place was already understaffed so those remaining were stressed and exhausted. It’s a dire situation.
Good god that just sounds horrific.
Nice contents friend!