Not to understand why just one visitor is allowed in Care Homes if older people have been vaccinated?

[CatAndHisKit]

Is it purely because they only had one dose - which does protect from serious symptoms, or is it going to be the same after two doses?

What's the point of being vaccinated then, if they still need to shield?!
Also if the person visiting lives with their DC, they would all be carriers of virus if one of the hoiusehold infected, so why not allow the same household to visit?

Our NHS trust is facing a problem with a fair number of staff choosing not to be vaccinated. The reason being for the majority I have spoken to is that it hasn’t been tested enough and they want to wait and see

The trust is sending out a number of emails with video links etc but this isn’t changing peoples kinds they are educated and intelligent.

I know this is the same with many social care workers too

Even when the vaccine roll out is completed regardless of people not having the vaccine restrictions will be around to some degree for some time Covid wont disappear and of course it will impact the lives of those most vulnerable

No justification for restrictions none. We were told vaccinations were the way out. Lies.

Problem is that once virus gets established in a care home it spreads easily to all the vulnerable. The barriers to keep the virus completely out have to be very high to protect anyone who lives there.

I work in a care home and we are currently having an outbreak of covid (first on since the pandemic started) which was brought into the home by a resident returning from hospital. He had tested negative on a lateral flow test but was later shown to be positive on a pcr test. Despite the fact that all staff and residents were vaccinated mid January and full ppe is correctly worn at all times it has spread to many of the staff and residents, 4 of which have died so far. We do the rapid flow tests every morning in an effort to stop any staff going onto the floor who may be positive but their accuracy is terrible. I tested negative on the morning of the 12th but the pcr test I did later that day (we do these once weekly on top of the rapid tests) showed I was in fact positive! I know people are desperate to see their relatives but it is such a risk to their safety and the safety of all the other vulnerable people in the homes. People are putting too much faith in wildly inaccurate testing and a few flimsy pieces of ppe which have no chance against the new varients..

Many of the care workers I know who have 'refused' the vaccine have done so because they have had covid already and either don't see the point because they had it mildly or they had covid around Christmas time when the whole country had it, which meant they haven't been able to get the vaccine until around now.

There's also a few that can't have it for various reasons, the usuals who are scared of needles and a few who are worried about the short term side affects making them too unwell to work and they can't afford to have time off.

Covid has a spread rate of 50% within households. So a one person rule half’s the chance of nursing home covid contact.

Also DC at school are likely to be in contact with much higher numbers of people and the lateral flow tests are only partially effective

My DF Care Home has an outbreak amongst the staff. I am tired of the government trying to persuade them, fed up of some saying that it hasn’t been tested on BAME community. Well - no it wouldn’t be if you didn’t offer to be a volunteer yourself!

It’s the same vaccine for us all.

My DF home has now been closed down fully for 1 month. It’s selfish behaviour imho.

The stats on efficacy are likely to be less reliable in older people, maybe quite significantly as their immune system doesn't respond as well to vaccination, simply by virtue of age.
That's why the over 65's have a completely flu vaccine to the rest of the population.
And I can quite believe many older people will refuse to have it. I see this year on year with the flu vaccine and in more recent years with shingles. In their thousands.

[quote whatmakesmesad]**@SheilaWilcox I appreciate your effort but please understand this is far more complex than simply “I would guess they are trying to prevent the virus spreading”

For a start, visitors will:

1. Have a lateral flow test on arrival
2. Wear PPE
3. Probably be vaccinated themselves
4. In many cases be relatively isolated at home, not gallavantung round the community
5. Have been unable to connect with their loved ones for a YEAR. Please don’t forget that where residents have conditions like dementia, phone calls and FaceTime just aren’t possible. The only way to connect with them is to be there.[/quote]

Exactly my situation *@SheilaWilcox*. Dad died in care home in November, was eventually allowed to visit when he was unconscious after not seeing him since August. Mum’s now dying in the same care home and yet again no visitors until very last hours ☹️ It stinks. My last memories are awful.

It's all too late for us anyway. Mil doesnt know us now. We haven't been able to see her since christmas even through the plexi glass set up.

It's all been really inhumane. Rights for Residents on Facebook have been fab.

I’ve seen the opposite in my trust. We’ve had a huge uptake of the vaccine so health workers from all professions seem very happy to be having the vaccine where I work.

The vaccination so far is only the first stage for everyone, not 100% protection. Sad to read in this thread of those in care homes where people have died, and being unable to visit loved ones in care homes has been one of the sadder impacts of the pandemic.

The changes will be small and the impact remain very painful for many, but I understand why only these changes are being made.

I think it's a fair question. There doesn't seem to be a lot of confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccine, which is hopefully just because they want to see how things play out before removing restrictions, rather than because they expect it won't give protection.

The argument about care home staff's families doesn't make sense. Schools? Supermarkets?

I work in a care home, all our staff are vaccinated, some still waiting for the second dose. All our residents are also vaccinated and we have a date for the second dose too.
Theres no reason why we shouldn't be having visitors. Staff are all still being tested weekly. Any new residents are isolated for 10 days then vaccinated if not already done.
We are having a pod delivered for the garden so we can get visits started, they need their family to visit. Sadly families will see massive changes in their family member when they do visit. Not as noticible when seeing them a few times a week, but it's been so long Dementia has become so much worse for most of them, it's part of the disease process, but will be a big shock and I can see some very upset families visiting.

I would urge family members to push homes into organising outside visits. The weather is getting milder. If the elderly person can tolerate a wheelchair, garden visits should be allowed daily to make up for the awful year and lack of social contact.
I'm not keen on them for environmental reasons, but would happily donate a patio heater to my local care home if I knew they'd facilitate unrestricted daily garden visits.

What people need to remember, the vaccine is a two dose vaccine. Not everyone has had both doses and many are still yet to be vaccinated.

The residents of care homes were hardest hit in the first wave. So it makes sense to protect them until they’re all vaccinated, their carers are vaccinated, visitors are vaccinated AND the rate of infection is low

One person bringing it in to a care home could start off more infections and deaths in the homes. More time is needed before reintroducing visitation - and then perhaps outdoors at first.

It’s not just about your individual relative, but all in the care home.

Saying this as someone who lost a relative in a care home last week to covid. And there were yet no visitors.

MrFlibbles had those four who died been vaccinated?

FedUp that's one positive post - sounds like your home is so well-organised, and pods aer a great thing. If all inside aer vaccinated (incl staff) and visits are distanced in the garden / pod for extra measure, surely that's good enough. Possibly visitors should hae regular tests, but many would be happy with that.