Identifying and Preventing COVID-19 at Skilled Nursing Facilities

A report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examines the coronavirus outbreak at skilled nursing facilities in Detroit. DMC was one of the partners in this collaborative project with the Detroit health department and the Centers for Disease control. The initiative from the DMC was led by Dr. Teena Chopra and her team. Dr. Chopra is the Director of Hospital Epidemiology, Infection prevention and Antibiotic stewardship at the DMC.

Skilled nursing facilities which house the most vulnerable elderly population in the Detroit area, were especially hard hit by COVD-19.

The report, titled, Initial and Repeated Point Prevalence Surveys to Inform SARS-CoV-2 Infection Prevention in 26 Skilled Nursing Facilities, found that repeated testing of residents and staff including those without symptoms was the most effective approach in helping identify positive COVID-19 cases and reduce the transmission of the virus in skilled nursing facilities.

This approach, known as point of prevalence surveys, is a data collection tool used to identify the number of people with a disease or condition at a specific point in time.

Researchers believe this report and their experiences during the pandemic will be extremely valuable for health departments around the country who want to know more about the use point of prevalence surveys in skilled nursing facilities.