Liverpool Coronavirus: Families urged to support care homes in cancelling non-essential visits 

Local care homes take emergency measures to protect elderly and vulnerable residents and staff from risk of coronavirus until further notice.

Alternative ways to keep families in contact with residents are being explored as care home staff ask for support from concerned relatives.

“Although most people are understanding, there’s also a lot of frustration, and that frustration can be aimed at staff,” a local care home representative told The Guide Liverpool.

“While we fully understand that frustration, these procedures are in place to ensure we protect our residents, and to keep our staff fit and healthy to maintain the best levels of care.”

Care homes are preparing to use FaceTime and Skype as alternative methods to keep families in contact with residents during the coronavirus outbreak, and wish to reassure local families that residential care facilities are keeping everyday life as normal as possible for residents.

“Some residents have Dementia and are unaware, but others are asking when they can see their families, and that’s heartbreaking,” the local representative continued. “We explain to them it’s for their benefit. We will be setting up other methods to help keep families in contact, and once this is all over, the doors are back open.

“We want relatives to be assured, we’re doing everything we can to keep your relatives safe and healthy,” they continued. “Our daily activities are still going ahead as normal, and giving residents the best quality of life is still our top priority, while we do everything we can to reduce any risk to their health.”

While opinion remains divided on how best to protect older people, latest research from China reveals those aged over-60 make up more than 80% of coronavirus deaths. A study in the American Medical Association calculates the mortality rate for those aged 80 or older is 14.8%. For those aged 70-79, it is 8%, and for 60-t0-69-year olds it is 3.6%.