Challenges of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the nursing home setting : a cross-sectional investigation in 14 Chinese provinces

Abstract: The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 is posing a serious challenge to the prevention and control of public health in China. With the expansion of the scope of prevention and control and its increasing intensity, the elderly care institutions with its closed-management also face greater difficulties and challenges. Serving as solid backing and epidemic barriers for the aged, the elderly care institutions also need increasing social support. To examine the operational difficulties and response measures of the elderly care institutions in the current epidemic context, a questionnaire survey, together with telephone interviews carried out in 29 elderly care institutions in 14 provinces and cities across the country, was conducted. In addition, referring to the measures for the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks in the elderly institutions in Europe and the United States, a set of practical policy proposals were presented to address problems of the elderly institutions in the current epidemic situation in China