Slovakia sees slight but constant drop in COVID-19 cases in care homes
At the beginning of February, the Labour Ministry noted that 281 facilities were in crisis, while the number now stands at 257.
Krajniak further announced that 11,428 of the 31,000 employees and residents of care homes who applied for vaccination have already been inoculated, which is 37 percent of them. He hopes that all the residents and employees of care homes who have shown interest will be vaccinated by mid-April.
Some 11 million face masks, 374,000 pieces of protective clothing, 278,000 FFP2 respirators and almost 8,000 protective shields have been distributed to care homes to date. «We reimburse the cost of vitamin D3 to them, which has been proven to be very suitable prevention, either against the COVID-19 disease, or to prevent a worse course of the disease if somebody falls ill,» stated the minister. As many as 100 oxygen concentrators have been distributed to care homes, and the ministry is trying to secure an additional 100 for them. «We want to protect residents of care homes against having to go into hospital as much as possible. We’re helping hospitals in this way as well,» said the minister.
The so-called German model is being introduced in care homes, which should prevent residents with COVID-19 from getting pneumonia, said Krajniak, adding that the ministry is seeking to apply all well-proven foreign methods in Slovakia.
«The assistance given to care homes is worth a total of €46 million. It’s mainly been in the form of material aid, but it’s also included financial rewards, reimbursing the cost of vitamin D3 and other things,» noted Krajniak. He highlighted the fact that the lowest number of people per capita have died of COVID-19 in care homes in Slovakia when compared to relevant countries. The minister expressed many thanks to all employees of care homes, who, despite their low financial remuneration, have behaved in a very heroic and unselfish manner.