At least 7,000 people have died in care homes across the United States due to Covid-19 disease, caused by the Coronavirus, while the Care England, which represents this sector in Britain, has announced the death of thousands of elderly people in care homes, the number is likely to be 7,500 deaths.
According to a report issued by the New York Times the day before yesterday, the outcome of the newspaper, which amounted to about 7000 deaths, covered all over the states, as the virus spread to more than 4100 care homes in the United States and other facilities.
Care facilities are particularly hard hit by the epidemic, according to the report, because the elderly and people with weak immunity are most at risk, and because of the increased risk of infection when many people live close to each other.
The US authorities had issued earlier in March of new guidance measures for more than 15 thousand care homes across the country.
In Britain, thousands of elderly people died in care homes in a higher outcome than official figures, as announced by the "Care England" organization representing this sector, the number is likely to be 7500 deaths.
Britain has counted 14576 deaths from the "Covid-19" epidemic, according to the latest toll released on Friday, but it only includes hospital deaths.
The National Bureau of Statistics, which counts deaths but with a difference of 10 days, counted 217 deaths as of April 3 in homes for the elderly in England and Wales, according to the latest weekly count.
After collecting its numbers, CARE England, which represents the independent homes of the elderly, estimates that the true number of deaths is much higher.
Its director-general, Martin Green, told The Telegraph: “If we study mortality rates since April 1 and compare them to the rates of previous years, we would estimate the death of about 7,500 people as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic.”
He explained that «in the absence of tests to detect the infection it is difficult to provide an accurate number» of deaths.
In response to a question by a parliamentary committee about the figures of the National Statistics Office, Health Minister Matt Hancock acknowledged that the actual number of deaths in homes for the elderly is "much higher", stressing that official figures "will be published very soon".
In Britain only, cases of «Covid-19» were recorded in 3084 homes for the elderly until April 15, according to local health authorities.
On Monday, associations wrote to the Minister of Health to demand more screening checks and protective equipment for workers in homes for the elderly.
The minister promised, after two days, that he would suggest that residents and workers in the homes of the elderly who had symptoms or returned from the hospital, undergo tests, which did not happen automatically.
Health workers are also concerned about the shortage of protective clothing that hospitals may face from the weekend.
And Friday, the national health system announced that it might ask doctors and nurses to reuse some of their medical clothing, "because it is necessary to properly use protective clothing in a time of great scarcity."
On Friday, Hancock did not confirm before a parliamentary committee that it would provide the medical staff with the necessary protective clothing at the end of the week, explaining that the matter is complicated due to the great global demand for it.
In Canada, elderly people were left in a deplorable state with their droppings and without food after their caregivers escaped from a home in which 31 people died within a few weeks, and the nursing home in Montreal became a symbol of the repercussions of the emerging corona virus on care institutions in Canada.
An investigation was opened into the situation at the Heron Center in the Dorval district of Montreal as a result of gross negligence, which led to the demand for accountability at the national level about the conditions in nursing homes, where more than half of the country's total deaths were recorded with Covid-19, which amounted to 1250.
"I really felt nauseous," said Moria Davis, whose father, Stanley Penel, died at the Heron facility on April 8.
Upon informing the health authorities after most of the employees left the facility, the officials found the inmates suffering from dehydration and without food for days, while they were lying in their beds unable to move around, some of the bodies were covered by the litter, while others fell to the ground and two people did not know about them.
Five of the last 31 deaths in the home were officially attributed to the new Corona virus, while the pathologist is still working to reveal the cause of the remaining deaths.
When announcing the deaths this week, Quebec Prime Minister Francois Lego said the case appeared to be related to gross negligence, as only two nurses were left to care for 130 elderly people.
Concern in the British health community about the shortage of protective clothing.