ABC News: As Nursing Homes Battle Coronavirus, Study Finds Key Defense: Full Staffs, August, 12, 2020

A study released on Monday by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that across eight states those facilities that were able to maintain more staffing in the homes had fewer COVID-19 cases than staffing in homes the study rated as low-performing. Eric Carlson, a long-term care expert with the advocacy group Justice in Aging, told ABC News that when facilities don’t have enough staff, residents suffer from lower quality of care.

“When nurse aides are responsible for too many residents, they don’t have the time to follow the proper infection prevention procedures,” said Carlson. “It’s penny wise and pound foolish for facilities to short-staff facilities, since this research shows that overworked staff leads to infections and deaths. “