There have been more than 35,000 COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities and nursing home employees say they’re caught in an impossible situation, according to an article on the Time website.
Nursing home employees who contract COVID-19 have been forced to use up their limited sick time or vacation time, go without pay, or lose their jobs entirely.
Recent lawsuits — brought by relatives of nursing home workers who died of COVID-19 and by former nursing home employees — are drawing attention to the conditions within some facilities that workers say put them and patients at unreasonably high risk.
The long-term care industry has argued that nursing homes need more support and funding from state and federal governments. The industry has sought immunity from potential lawsuits related to the pandemic.