PALMETTO STATE EXTRA: Your Health & You!

*Resistance, Innovation, Improvisation: When Governments Fell Short During COVID-19, Long-Term Care Workers Stepped Up*

Political science professor Robert Henry Cox, colleagues Daniel Dickson and Patrik Marier write for the Conversation about why long-term care workers are key intermediaries in the implementation of policies designed to both contain the spread of the coronavirus and maintain a sense of normalcy for care recipients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified public attention to the importance of front-line workers, specifically in the long-term care (LTC) sector where the virus has struck hardest. Most LTC workers were already operating in challenging conditions before COVID-19. But the pandemic has meant watching people in their care endure sharp declines in health and quality of life, and dying during the outbreaks.

Their unique expertise and intimate relationships with the people they support makes LTC workers key intermediaries in the implementation of policies designed to both contain the spread of the virus and maintain a sense of normalcy for care recipients. As a result, LTC workers have been repeatedly heralded as the unsung heroes of the pandemic, or as Québec Premier François Legault prefers, “oWe identified three types of behavior: resistance, innovation and improvisation. We found that, despite a rise in media narratives denouncing poor working conditions, official responses to the pandemic continued to undervalue the influence of LTC workers in practice, particularly where cases were highest.

.Improvisation responses also follow policy guidelines. However, they differ from innovation responses because rather than being empowered to seek ideal solutions, workers are forced to adapt to burdensome limitations. In our study, improvisation responses were most common where working conditions were most challenging and proper equipment was not provided.

Québec once again provided some of the most compelling narratives of improvisation. In one instance, staff working in the “red zone” (for COVID-19 positive residents) of an LTC facility reported having to sew coffee filters into their masks when N95 masks were unavailable. At another point, staff shortages became so severe that remaining LTC staff were forced train replacement workers with limited caregiving experience.

Again, these narratives are striking because of the hardships and grave risks endured by LTC workers, who are forced to compensate for the shortfalls of policies governing their practice.

Much has changed since the first four months of the pandemic. The continuous spread of the disease has affected LTC work across the world, and certainly has diminished some of the differences that we observed between the states and provinces in our study. Innovative ideas have spread too, so that creative solutions for effectively maintaining quality of care, such as safe visitation protocols and recreational activities, have been adopted far and wide.

New policies recognizing the importance of LTC workers have also been adopted, mostly focused on improving pay rates. For example, over the summer, the Québec government actively recruited staff to replenish the LTC sector with promises of increasing wages to $26 per hour. However, few have received this raise, giving them good reason to be skeptical of major reforms to the sector in the immediate future.

This is not for lack of need. Without doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the scarcity of valuable resources in the LTC sector. But it has equally revealed the undervaluation of the sector’s most important resources: its staff. Yes, it is now time to finally sing their praises, but it is also time to finally value their work. The Conversation

*DHEC Statement On Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine*

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) released the following statement concerning this morning’s federal announcement about the Janssen vaccine, also referred to as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine:
South Carolina public health officials received word this morning, like many throughout the nation and the state, that the CDC and FDA have recommended immediately pausing use of the Janssen vaccine due to concerns with blood clotting. Our top priority is protecting the health and safety of the public. This pause is evidence of very close safety monitoring as part of the strict quality assurance that is in place to ensure patient safety.
DHEC has placed an immediate pause on our Janssen distribution and has contacted providers to alert them of this new development. In addition, we are currently in the process of rescheduling or changing planned vaccine types for events that were going to use Janssen.
We recognize that this will impact our current supply of vaccines across the state and are awaiting to hear more information from the federal government. South Carolina, like most states, had been receiving a small amount of Janssen vaccine from the federal government — about 7,000 doses a week — compared to the more than 40,000 doses each of Pfizer and Moderna we receive each week. Because of this, the pause on Janssen vaccine is less of an impact in our state than we would experience if a pause occurred on Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Millions of people in the United States have received doses of vaccines with very little side effects.