[ad_1]
In the nursing home in Siviriez (FR), where 37 people tested positive for the coronavirus last week, 53 people have been infected. Seven people died, as announced by the Freiburg health and social services. Also in Bulle (FR), 21 residents and 13 employees have tested positive for coronavirus so far. One person died. Friborg canton doctor Thomas Plattner comments on current cases.
The 52-year-old forensic medicine specialist with a master’s degree in public health is a doctor from the canton of Friborg. Before that, he was head of the Freiburg Health Office, for ten years deputy cantonal physician and for six years chief physician at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern.
SRF News: How can the virus spread in this way in a retirement home?
Thomas Plattner: There are different options: it can be visitors, staff or residents on excursions who bring the virus to institutions.
What steps have you decided to take now to prevent these types of outbreaks in the future?
We attach great importance to compliance with protection concepts. That is why we carry out preventive inspections of homes to see if protection measures are being implemented.
In general, retirement homes should be able to support residents.
It is also important to make it clear to the population that our elderly people belong to the risk group and that it is imperative to protect themselves when dealing with them.
There were so many absent staff at Siviriez that the rest of the staff could no longer care for the residents. People had to be taken out of the hospital. Does the hospital still have capacity if there are more cases of this type?
The hospital is also basically busy. In Riaz, the hospital has released additional beds, but there are also limits.
In the vast majority of cases, residents do not want hospitalization.
In general, retirement homes should be able to care for residents and also implement isolation and quarantine measures.
What is plan B like when there is a backlog of such cases?
We are currently considering the possibility of establishing a special Covid station at the former location of the Billens cantonal hospital. In principle, institutions can serve these residents. I would also like to emphasize that in the vast majority of cases residents do not want to be hospitalized. They want to stay in their family environment, even if they get sick. Even when they are at the end of their lives. Many people have recorded this in their advance directives.
Interview by Olivier Kempa.
