COVID-19 Coronavirus: UK, deaths in care homes. Strevens (social care) to SIR, “Government decided to ignore them”

(London) “It is very sad that the UK Government has decided to ignore care and nursing homes, where there is a sharp increase in deaths from COVID-19. It has been a purely political decision because the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, which provides advice to support government decisions on the virus, had already warned last January that care homes could be a breeding ground for the spread of the disease”. For twenty years, Brian Strevens has been the head of a charity providing home care to the elderly and supporting their social inclusion in the city of Southampton, South of England. Today, he works as a consultant in the same industry, the “social care” sector, which includes services and institutions that are not part of the National Health Service (NHS). “The government - he told SIR news agency - has decided to ignore this part of the community, perhaps because this sector does not attract as much public attention as the NHS. Indeed, these institutions still lack protective suits and face masks which are so vital to tackle COVID-19”, said Strevens. “Many nursing homes are in a crisis situation because their employees refuse to go to work out of fear for their own lives. The problem of care and nursing homes lacking financial support has lingered for almost two decades because governments have decided to give priority to public health”.
Valentina Bombelli