hi my name is Kara Jacobs Lucca I'm a medical officer and part of the CDC kovat 19 response in long-term care facilities today we're gonna talk about closely monitoring residents for Cova 19 and the importance of recognizing new or worsening infections quickly and taking action this is part
of the key code 19 prevention messages for frontline long-term care staff you know your residents best noticing even small changes in their appearance or their behavior that may indicate a new code 19 infection or an infection that is quickly getting worse alerting your charge nurse medical director or
supervisor could prevent many people from getting sick or a resident from dying the main way that the virus causing code 19 spreads is person-to-person what this means is that the virus can spread between people who are in close contact with one another usually that means less than about
six feet apart through respiratory droplets when a person infected with the virus coughs sneezes or talks these droplets can land in the mouth or nose of people who are nearby or maybe inhaled into their lungs an infected person may be able to spread the virus even if they
don't have symptoms it may be possible to get kovat by touching surfaces or objects that the virus is on such as a residence bed for bedside table or things like doorknobs and blood-pressure machines and then touching your mouth nose or eyes make sure that you clean your hands
frequently and clean and disinfect the environment ghovat 19 can be spread easily in long-term care facilities including nursing homes assisted living and other residential care settings and can spread between residents health care personnel and others working in the building the earlier you can identify sick residents the faster
you can prevent kovat 19 from spreading throughout the building this can keep both you and your residents healthy as an important reminder sick health care personnel and other staff some who may not have symptoms are the most likely way that Kovan 19 has made its way into buildings
it is for this reason that wearing your surgical masks at all times and not working when sick is so important if kovat 19 is not recognized early an even one person in a long-term care facility they can easily spread the virus to other residents or staff in the
building residents live in a closed environment are older and may have chronic medical conditions putting them at high risk of getting Koba 19 if not recognized early healthcare personnel and other staff or visitors in the building could get sick each person with kovat 19 can go on to
spread the virus to more people within the building who can then go on to spread the virus to others both within the building or even in other buildings where they work but when kovat 19 is recognized early through monitoring residents each day for fever and changes that may
indicate a new infection and immediately putting infection prevention practices into place such as having the residents stay in their room and healthcare personnel using personal protective equipment or PPE you can help keep coded 19 from spreading throughout the building and making many people sick in this picture you
can see that when coded 19 was found early only a few people in orange got sick while most other people in gray were able to stay healthy social distancing and wearing cloth face coverings by residents may help prevent spread as well this is why you should be monitoring
your residents every day for signs symptoms and changes in their appearance or behavior that may indicate kovat 19 you should take your residents temperature every day and even more often if you are concerned a temperature of equal to or more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit or multiple temperatures of
99 degrees Fahrenheit should trigger a warning that this resident may have coded 19 ask residents to tell you if they aren't feeling well and monitor them every day and throughout the day for symptoms such as new or different cough sore throat shortness of breath or muscle aches older
adults may not show typical symptoms so be on the lookout for symptoms such as new or worsening and discomfort or tiredness new dizziness chills headache or diarrhea you know your residents the best so any change from their usual baseline should be a warning that they might have kovat
19 and you should immediately notify your charge nurse or supervisor send the resident to their room and use PPE when you are caring for the resident a separate presentation on PPE is available and has more details on which PPE to use and how to use it to keep
yourself safe you have an important role to identify sick residents early by monitoring them closely in order to help keep residents and staff healthy unfortunately we have seen sick residents during the kovat 19 outbreak develop severe illness very quickly sick residents must be monitored very closely in order
to make sure they had the support that they need or identify when a higher level of care is needed you should monitor sick residents at least three times daily by checking their vitals including oxygen saturation with a pulse ox machine at each shift again you know your residents
the best so if they look different or worse to you in some way please report these findings immediately to your charge nurse a clinician or supervisor so that the resident can be evaluated keeping a close eye on your residents can help identify infections as early as possible to
prevent spread of kovat 19 and identify residents with serious illness who may need a higher level of care
