A survey on Italian nursing home for elderly during COVID-19 pandemics: what implications for public health? [Italian]

ABSTRACT

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic shows that residential care setting is the epicenter of this tragedy. The National Observatory of Dementia at the Italian National Institute of Health has conducted from 24 March to 5 May 2020 a survey in the 3,417 nursing home for the elderly. 1,356 (41.3%) structures replied to the survey;in 393 (29%) of these, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been documented. The results show that out of 9,154 people who died from February 1st to day of participation in the survey, 7.4% were affected by COVID-19 and 33.8% had flu-like symptoms. An integrated public health approach is urgent to understand the real dimensions of the phenomenon.