The Coronarovirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak strongly affected nursing and was responsible for a high mortality rate. During the pandemic of March-May 2020, 17 French nursing homes organized staff confinement periods with residents 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to reduce the risk of entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into their facilities, in a context where visits to residents were prohibited. By means of a telephone survey of their directors, we observed that 16 nursing homes (94%) had no cases of COVID-19 among the residents, and that mortality from COVID-19 was very low compared to that recorded at the national level by Santé publique France (p<10-4). Moreover, the number of cases of Covid-19 among the staff of these nursing homes was also lower than that recorded by Santé publique France (p<10-4). These establishments experienced certain difficulties which the directors managed to overcome and the investment of these teams was widely appreciated by the families of the residents and through the press.
Confinement du personnel d'Ehpad avec les résidents : une solution contre le Covid-19 ?/ Confinement of staff with residents in nursing homes: a solution against COVID-19?