Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Long Term Care Facilities within the State of North Carolina

Abstract

The data of infection and death rates of SARS-CoV-2 in Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities in the United States (U.S) and the State of North Carolina (N.C) demonstrate that residents in this community had a higher rate of mortality in contrast to the greater community. The project partner for this project attempted to mitigate the staffing and infection control problems surrounding this pandemic by establishing eight strike teams of health care workers to help staff N.C LTC facilities. The East Carolina Doctor of Nursing Program Student Team and their project partner initiated an education program to prepare strike team members for infection control and prevention. The project participants received this education, including a presentation and virtual demonstrations of donning and doffing personal protective equipment to improve their knowledge. Unfortunately, the participant population in this project was too small to provide meaningful data as to the benefit of mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 in these facilities. However, during this project, research suggested that LTC facilities have unique vulnerability factors and barriers that create a higher risk for poor infection control that require further investigation to provide meaningful interventions to improve response in future pandemics.