Keeping Elderly Patients Safe

effective immediately today. It was the state's first major policy shift in response to a surge in COVID nineteen cases this month. The state's one day increase in cases Friday was its biggest ever. Other Sun Belt hotspots are also seeing cases continue to rise. Cases in Arizona jumped five point four percent today and the state had its biggest

yet jump in hospitalizations. Governor Doug Doocy said Thursday that hospitals are likely to hit surge capacity very soon, with a number of cases and hospitalizations expected to worsen in the next two weeks. And in Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located, a Level one emergency was declared today that's equivalent to a recommendation that residents stay at home as much as possible to prevent or slow the spread

of the virus. Finally, the alarming spread of the virus in the US isn't stopping some airlines from forging ahead with a comp fleet return to pre COVID business as usual. American Airlines will sell flights to capacity starting on Wednesday, abandoning limits on passenger loads it had put in place as a coronavirus safety measure. United Airlines hasn't guaranteed to block seats, but Delta Airlines has said it will keep middle seats open through September. Southwest Airlines has committed to

block middle seats unless customers are traveling together. And now for our main story around the world, care homes have been a hotbit for COVID nineteen outbreaks because older people are particularly vulnerable. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have had some of the deadliest outcomes during the pandemic, but some nursing homes have done much better than others at

containing the virus spread and protecting their elderly residents. Bloomberg reporter Angelica Livito reports that one company in the Seattle area learned early in the pandemic the essential ingredient for COVID management. Testing, testing and testing again. So I'll start by well, coming everybody, thank you for coming. And this is important WAK. We're fighting the invisible enemy UM. Today's broad testing. We're testing all residents and all staff. He

at the University House Wallingford. Albert Nanga is the regional director of Health and Wellness at Era Living. He is preparing to test residents at University House Wallingford and assisted living facility in Seattle. Testing is a key tool to identifying people infected with the novel coronavirus and assisted living facilities and nursing homes. It might sound obvious now, but that was not always the case, and Nursing Home first exposed the US to just how deadly the novel coronavirus

could be. The virus swept through the Life Care Center of Kirkland in late February. It infected residents and employees alike. Deaths had been linked to the Washington facility a short drive away in Seattle. Alarm bells started going off at Earra Living's Ida Call of our House for Venna in early March. One resident visited his doctor on March four. His earlier trip to an urgent care center did not resolve the unexplained confusion he was experiencing. The doctor prescribed

antibiotics for what looked like bacterial pneumonia. On the way back to the ida call of her house, the family called that the heads up suspicious. A nurse called Manonga and so for me, that was a rich flag. I for minus that let's talk to the family to see if we can actually request this resident not to enter the community but proceed to the emergence room and detested. At the time, we are not testing abilities anywhere. Two days later, on March six, the hospital called the resident

tested positive. We are to stay calm. We anticipated that it could potentially cause a lot of panic in many people around within and outside the combility. So we had to come together and to seek some understanding of what we delivered with and we agreed on sweeping protective measures to be able to potentially it's so late anyone any kind of symptoms that we thought could be of concern. Presidents and employees were notified. Were kers who came in

close contact with the patient were sent home. The dining room was closed. Meals were delivered to residents who were asked to stay in their apartments, but the virus was already lurking inside. Fever, cop and other flu like symptoms are the hallmarks of COVID nineteen. The first patient did not show any of those signals. He died on March nine. Another resident was hospitalized on March tenth. There was no

way to know how many others were infected. Ear A Living had already been exploring how it could test everyone,

says Vice President of Operations Nissan Harrel. It was challenging because at the time the testing guidelines were very narrow, and we felt the only way to know if you have it is to test, which seems simple, but we felt really strong that we had to get that done, and we had wanted it from the very beginning when we heard there was a positive test um, and we had been having conversations of about that, but then once the resident passed away, we made a phone calls at

night and really pushed to to have it done. The next day, University of Washington researchers came in and tested all residents and employees. Infectious disease specialist Dr Alison Roxby and her team were afraid and outbreak was brewing inside. I've participated in surveys in multiple congregate settings in King County, Washington, and we have seen many outbreaks that take off like wildfire.

So having one patient positive in a community can quickly result in many positive patients if people are not distancing appropriately and if they don't have adequate personal protective equipment or PPE. Nanga says he was not afraid, but he was prepared. I was prepared for potential wide spread because we didn't know that the covidos into community. Nobody had dressed their symptoms. Gentlemen that had nothing exhibited no science.

Now we worked up to a new reality that potentially look with that better people without two dumps, and so I was prepared to see in Hambok cases. Through that experience, Roxby and her team at the University of Washington screened everyone for symptoms. They asked them to record anything out of the ordinary, like a cough or a fever. Then they swabbed three of eighty residents and two of sixty two workers tested positive. Some did not report any symptoms.

They tested all residents again one week later. Just one more resident tested positive. The interventions worked. Roxby and her team shared the results in a study that was published in a medical journal and shared by the CDC. Her conclusion testing can catch infections that screening for symptoms can't.

We were very hardened that despite having two patients in the facility with confirmed coronavirus, that we did not see a facility wide outbreak, and it suggested to us that when facilities follow all of the recommendations, it's possible to avoid a facility wide outbreak. Ida culver House Ravenna has not detected another case of COVID nineteen among its residents. Parent company Era Living has since tested its roughly two thousand five d residents and employees across its eight communities

in the Seattle area. Four residents have died, nineteen residents and seventeen workers tested positive and recovered. The company is now in the process of testing everyone again. Sit back in your chair. I'm gonna put this in and we're going to count to ten. Okay, ready, cart with me, Mononga says broad testing informed air Livings practice. All these measures we had away delivery wonderful outcomes for us in

terms of limiting the spread of copy nine. And this is I think the story of how we overcame two three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine excellent. I'm gonna go to the other side. Okay, you are so good. Almost killed. It's been nearly four months since the IDA call our house, Ravenna and assisted living facilities across the country canceled activities and barred visitors. The virus continues spreading in the US, with new hotspots

emerging in states like Arizona and Texas. In Seattle, restrictions are starting to loosen air livings, residents can leave their rooms and walk outside, and testing remains a crucial part to keeping them safe. Safety is not a game of chance. We need to make sure we trip or check every single time. You guys, thank you for you angelic help. We always have precated you for for all the other volunteers from other communities. A house Brodie, thank you so much,

you guys. All right, that was Angelica Levito and that's our show today. Before we go. A programming note, starting next week, we will drop our Tuesday and Thursday episodes. That's not because coronavirus isn't still the most important news story in the world. It is and we expect it will continue to be, but in recent weeks other important issues have also begun to demand our attention in the US, for example, a profound reckoning with racism and a potentially

world changing presidential election in a few months. We have no intention of abandoning our commitment to cover the full range of stories related to COVID nineteen. We are simply stepping back slightly to make room for some others. And that's it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts

or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Tophor foreheads Jordan Gaspore, Magnus Hendrickson, and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Angelica Levido. Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts. Thanks for listening. H