The spread of the new coronavirus has tightened the beds, and even if people in need of long-term care are infected, they will be treated at home one after another.


Long-term care services may be suspended due to infection, and experts point out that immediate measures are needed.

A 61-year-old husband who cares for his wife

A 65-year-old woman living in Misato City, Saitama Prefecture, became bedridden with a need for long-term care 5 due to a cerebral infarction, and her 61-year-old husband is taking care of her at home while working.



In the middle of last month, it was discovered that her husband was infected with the new corona and that the woman was also infected, but both were treated at home because the woman was asymptomatic and her husband was relatively mild.



According to her husband, she had previously received day service, home-visit care and home-visit nursing, home-visit care and home-visit rehabilitation, but all of them were stopped when she told her that she was infected.



She said she was in danger the next day because she found another office to visit, but her husband was unable to stand up due to her fever and her general malaise. Says.



My husband said, "It was unexpected that one day I suddenly couldn't receive long-term care services all at once. My wife needs 24-hour long-term care, so I thought I had to do it, but I couldn't move. I felt like I was cornered. If I hadn't come to the home-visit nursing care as it was, I might have collapsed with my wife. "

According to Professor Yasuhiro Yuki of Shukutoku University, who is familiar with the issue of long-term care, there are many cases where the home care service is stopped when the long-term care recipient or family is infected. It is important to do this, but the expansion of the Omicron strain has forced us to take care of ourselves at home. If we do not receive long-term care, our physical and mental condition will worsen and it will be fatal, so we need to take immediate measures. " I point out that.

Voices calling for support from nursing care sites

When a person requiring long-term care or his / her family is infected at home, there are cases where the long-term care service cannot be received.



The care manager in charge of the 65-year-old woman visited the woman's home just before the infection was discovered as the reason why the long-term care service she had received was stopped. There are many small-scale business establishments, and there are not enough materials and knowledge for infection control.

Tomohiro Isono, a business establishment that provided home-visit nursing care to women, said, "Many people feel uneasy because nursing care is physically close and the length of stay is long. At first, we were honest and scared, but we knew that it would be okay if we took proper measures against infection. "



On top of that, it is said that the cost burden of the business establishment is large to deal with infected people, "I would like you to add support for supplies such as protective clothing and test kits, and if it takes longer than usual to deal with infected people, add nursing care fees." I was talking.



Professor Yasuhiro Yuki of Shukutoku University said, "Home-visit nursing care is particularly difficult to manage, and there is a limit to relying on the good intentions of some business establishments. We should put in place a mechanism to dispatch helpers to the offices, and give generous support to the business establishments that responded. "