High impact of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, suggestion for monitoring in the EU/EEA, May 2020
ECDC Public Health Emergency Team, Kostas Danis, Laure Fonteneau, Scarlett Georges, Côme Daniau, Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin, Lisa Domegan, Joan O’Donnell, Siri Helene Hauge, Sara Dequeker, Eline Vandael, Johan Van der Heyden, Françoise Renard, Natalia Bustos Sierra, Enrico Ricchizzi, Birgitta Schweickert, Nicole Schmidt, Muna Abu Sin, Tim Eckmanns, José-Artur Paiva, Elke Schneider
Abstract
Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths in LTCF residents represent 30-60% of all COVID-19 deaths in many European countries. This situation demands that countries implement local and national testing, infection prevention and control, and monitoring programmes for COVID-19 in LTCF in order to identify clusters early, decrease the spread within and between facilities and reduce the size and severity of outbreaks.