Care homes face gear shortage, ill staff and the unknown
EVERETT — Homemade masks and men’s long-sleeve dress shirts, each laundered several times a day, have replaced standard personal protective equipment at Sunrise View Convalescent Center and Retirement Villa.
Staff here are wrestling with a shortage of proper masks and gowns amid an outbreak of COVID-19 that has left 10 of its residents dead — and there’s no end in sight.
“We’re in for the long haul,” Sunrise administrator Diane Lopes said. “It has to be all about reusable.”
In recent days, COVID-19 cases in Snohomish County nursing homes spiked. Twenty facilities reported a staff member or resident had tested positive for the virus as of Friday, compared to the seven reported a week earlier. Tests were still pending in connection with five more care homes.
Statewide, at least 62 long-term care facilities had confirmed cases, while 108 more had suspected or unconfirmed cases as of March 27, said Chris Wright, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.
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