There are close to 29,000 assisted living facilities with 1M residents in the United States. The majority of the residents are aged 85 or older making them at higher risk for COVID-19. Some assisted living facilities specialize in serving individuals with special needs like Alzheimer’s, dementia which may require the resident to be in a memory care unit.
Due to the nature of COVID-19 being so contagious no outside visitors, including family, friends or entertainment are allowed in the facility, therefore the staff at the facilities have become extended families, since. A recent survey results showed that residents miss the pre-pandemic days:
Life changes due to risk of COVID-19
Of our sample polled, the greatest impact of COVID-19 was the inability to have visitors (86%) including family and friends. The second greatest hardship was not being able to socialize with fellow residents (57%). Being confined to the facility and not being able to have hairdresser services were tied at 43%. Having restricted activity options and church services were also tied at 36%. Overall COVID-19 has had a major impact on the social well-being of residents.
Emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized by the FDA for people ages 16 and older. We asked the pool residents if they plan to take the vaccine and 86% responded yes. The reasons cited for not taking the vaccine were concerns about the side effects and not sure if it was needed. Only 14% of the respondents had reservations about taking the vaccine and wanted to make sure it worked.
We polled the residents the first time without any statistical information about the benefits of the vaccine. After advising of the following information, 7% changed their mind about taking the vaccine to yes.
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