Covid and Care Homes

We all know that the greatest concentrations of deaths from COVID19 have been in care homes and hospitals. Its in those places that old people and other people in vulnerable categories are concentrated. Given that COVID19 is a virus that more or less exclusively affects old people, and to a much lesser extent people with other underlying conditions, its not surprising that the majority of deaths and serious illness are to be found where those old and vulnerable people are concentrated. Indeed, it again shows the idiocy of the lockdown, because its not those old and vulnerable people who have been going out partying, and engaging in large-scale interactions, but the young people who are not affected by it! 

But, of course, it was not inevitable that there should have been large scale deaths in hospitals and care homes either. Indeed, it should have been possible to have established all of the measures of isolation and safety protocols in those places that would have ensured that residents and patients were perfectly safe from infection. But, in large part, its clear that no such measures were established, and so large numbers of people died in these locations. In part, that is down to the fact that, over ten years, Tory governments have implemented austerity that has undermined the NHS and social care, but also, in part, it seems to reflect an incapacity for even basic measures to be introduced that simply require a degree of rational and lateral thinking. It appears to be yet another consequence of the moral hazard that results from years of people not having to think for themselves, and instead relying on the capitalist state to provide all the answers, in line with the mantra that “someone ought to do something.” 

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have. 

Yesterday, there were heart rending scenes of vulnerable people in care homes being interviewed, and who were suffering great distress because the lockdown has cut them off from access with relatives etc. Yet, why, in this day and age, should that have happened? Its possible, at the very least, to provide care home residents with virtual contact with their relatives via Skype or other such applications. Why has not Somebody or Anybody simply set up such contact arrangements in care homes? In fact, more than that. Most care homes and nursing homes have grounds in which they are situated. Surely, it is not beyond the wit of Somebody to arrange that residents can be visited by friends and relatives in these grounds, safely. Indeed, it appeared they were being visited and interviewed by the TV news reporters! Indeed, it should be more than possible to utilise rooms in such care homes, on a rota basis, to enable friends and relatives to visit residents safely, abiding by required rules for physical distancing. 

The other report was of a care home worker who had had a COVID19 test, but the results had not been processed, and sent back, reflecting the fact that the government's test and trace scheme is in a state of collapse. The irony was that the care worker, who had been infected by their partner with COVID19, but who was asymptomatic, was themselves responsible for carrying out testing in the care home. But, again, the story, here, seemed to miss the important point. Did it really matter that this care worker had contracted COVID19 from their partner? No, because they were asymptomatic, as indeed are 80% of the population who contract it. It is only the 20% of the population, over 60, or who suffer underlying medical conditions, who are at serious risk from the virus. There was no reason why this care worker should not have continued to work. They were not ill, and their labour was necessary for the health and well being of residents in the home. But, why on Earth did the care home itself not have in place protocols to simply ensure that the virus cannot be transferred to residents? 

It should be plain common sense that all workers in care homes, and hospitals should have adequate protective clothing, and safety protocols that ensure they do not infect patients or residents. That way it makes no difference to them whether others in those places have COVID19 or not, and makes all the rigmarole of testing – which is pretty pointless as merely a point in time test – irrelevant and unnecessary. 

I'm sure that if hospitals and care homes were under workers control, and their commissioning was under the control of committees of local workers, as patients and users of such facilities, that, together, workers would ensure that their own safety was ensured by working together to have the required PPE and safety protocols. We cannot rely on private capitalists, or the state capitalist to do so, and years of relying on them is what has created the conditions that we face today.