"Be sure to inspect fever in facilities for the elderly" Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Notification of frequent outbreaks November 20, 4:22
In response to the fact that a group of people infected with the new coronavirus = "clusters" are occurring one after another in facilities for the elderly, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare always inspects residents and care workers when symptoms such as fever occur. I notified the health centers nationwide.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a total of 153 clusters were confirmed nationwide in the week leading up to the 16th of this month, of which 29 occurred in facilities for the elderly.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is asking prefectures to prioritize inspections at facilities for the elderly, but some facilities have said that even if they request an inspection from a health center, they will not be accepted. It means that there is.
For this reason, on the 19th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare notified health centers nationwide through prefectures to thoroughly inspect elderly people and staff who use long-term care facilities.
Specifically,
▽ elderly people who have symptoms such as fever and care staff are always inspected.
▽ In principle, if infection is confirmed, all are required to be inspected.
In particular, in prefectures where the number of newly infected people exceeds 10 per 100,000 population in a week, we will take immediate action.
In addition, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has a policy of subsidizing the inspection cost to the facility that inspected at its own expense if the health center does not respond to the request for inspection from the facility for the elderly, and will request the health center to respond as necessary. ..
Policy to ask prefectures for "cluster early detection"
As clusters occur one after another nationwide, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has a policy of requesting prefectures and others to establish a mechanism called "event-based surveillance" that collects information for early detection of clusters from medical sites.
Among them, we gathered information on "on-site awareness" such as "many people have a fever or take a rest due to poor physical condition" from doctors and managers of facilities for the elderly, and set up discussions in prefectures. Share at the meeting.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it has been pointed out that there are "potential clusters" that are not known, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will lead to discovery by intervening at an early stage such as health centers and conducting inspections and active epidemiological surveys. I want to.
Since such a system is recommended internationally, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will notify the prefectures this month after considering specific operation methods.