At Risk: Life Inside U.S. Nursing Homes During The Coronavirus Crisis

The coronavirus is affecting the most vulnerable elderly Americans. We’ll examine how nursing homes became such dangerous places for the people they’re meant to protect.

Guests

Louise Aronson, professor of geriatrics at the University of California. Author of “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.” (@LouiseAronson)

Danielle Ivory, investigative reporter for the New York Times. (@danielle_ivory)

From The Reading List

Excerpt of “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life” by Louise Aronson

Excerpted from “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life” by Louise Aronson. © 2019 published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing. All rights reserved.

Danielle Ivory’s reporting on nursing homes and the coronavirus:

New York Times: “‘They’re Death Pits’: Virus Claims at Least 7,000 Lives in U.S. Nursing Homes“New York Times: “Virginia Nursing Home Had Plenty of Coronavirus Patients but Few Tests“New York Times: “Coronavirus Outbreak at Virginia Nursing Home Spirals Out of Control as 45 Die“New York Times: “Nursing Home Residents, Families and Workers: How is the Coronavirus Crisis Affecting You?“

The Atlantic: “Ageism Is Making the Pandemic Worse” — “Envision, for a moment, a world in which the rapidly spreading coronavirus is mostly infecting people under the age of 50. Imagine that the death toll is highest among children and that, as of today, the United States had reported more than 104,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,700 deaths, mostly among middle schoolers. Imagine that scientists suspect elders are at lower risk based on past exposure to similar viruses. How would you react to a disease that was mostly killing young people planetwide?”

NEJM: “Age, Complexity, and Crisis — A Prescription for Progress in Pandemic” — “It’s a sunny Sunday in San Francisco as I tackle overdue clinic notes and Covid-19 sweeps the planet. I am scheduled to speak in 10 other states over the coming weeks, and as a healthy, middle-aged physician from a region with growing numbers of infections, I’m as likely to be a vector as a victim. Over the next 48 hours, I or my hosts will cancel all my long-planned trips. Meanwhile, I obsessively check the news, trying to decide the safest course of action for me, my family, my patients, and my fellow human beings around the globe.”

New York Times: “‘Covid-19 Kills Only Old People.’ Only?” — “‘Not just old people: Younger adults are also getting the coronavirus,’ a news network declared on its website last week. The words seemed to suggest that Covid-19 didn’t matter much if it was a scourge only among the old.”

Politico: “Trump administration will require nursing homes to report Covid-19 cases” — “American nursing homes will now be required to report coronavirus cases directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as to patients and their families, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said Sunday.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]