Necessity is the mother of invention, so the expression goes. Some nursing homes are taking this idea to heart, implementing unusual and creative steps to compensate for facility and material shortages to protect residents and staff from the coronavirus.

HCR ManorCare, for example, is creating make-shift isolation units, walling off a section of each facility with heavy-grade plastic, according to an ABC News report. Some 25 of the giant chain’s facilities are going to be implementing the plan this week.

 “We were determined to do our best to contain it,” Mark Gloth, DO, chief medical officer for HCR ManorCare, told the news outlet. “I said, ‘Why can’t we MacGyver it and put something together that will actually provide an additional level of support for our patients and employees?'”

“MacGyver” is a television show in which the protagonist repeatedly escapes danger and cataclysmic events by improvising solutions out of everyday materials.

 Other facilities are also stepping up with protective measures. One example is Florida senior living provider MorseLife, which as of late last week said it was not aware of a confirmed case of the coronavirus in its midst. It takes the temperature of all staff when they enter the building and twice throughout their shift. 

On a daily basis, facility staff also take a complete set of vital signs for all of the long-term care residents, and every shift they document observations regarding any respiratory symptoms, added Carmen Shell, senior vice president of the MorseLife Health Center, according to the ABC report. They also take vitals of short-term residents every shift, and monitor new patients every hour for the first three days after admission. 

To make do with low supplies, MorseLife is buying ultraviolet lights to disinfect face masks, and some employees are sewing face masks to be reused until supplies are replenished, Shell said.

King County nursing home analysis

Meanwhile, a new report reveals the danger of not vigilantly using personal protective equipment (PPE) once an initial case of COVID-19 is detected. Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that found that many of the residents at a second King County, WA, nursing home that tested positive did not show symptoms on the day of testing. This followed the discovery of an outbreak at another King County facility that hosted the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.. 

Following identification of the virus in a healthcare worker at the second facility, some 76 of 82 residents were tested, and approximately half of the 23 who had positive results were asymptomatic or presymptomatic on the day of testing. 

“Symptom-based screening of SNF residents might fail to identify all SARS-CoV-2 infections,” the report stated.” Asymptomatic and presymptomatic SNF residents might contribute to SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Once a facility has confirmed a COVID-19 case, all residents should be cared for using CDC-recommended personal protective equipment (PPE), with considerations for extended use or reuse of PPE as needed.”