Should the situation become critical in retirement and care homes, caregivers would remain on duty despite a positive test.

Faced with a second wave of Covid-19 infections, which could lead to "hard times" in Luxembourg's hospitals and perhaps a new form of lockdown, the Ministry of Health is once again pondering the question of a potential staff shortage in nursing homes.

In order to guarantee the functioning of these institutions in the event of a staff shortage, the ministry is currently thinking about "a process adjustment for the staff of retirement and care homes". The adjustment would entail that the staff would no longer be forced to follow the isolation and quarantine procedures in force for everyone, explained Minister of Health Paulette Lenert in response to a parliamentary question by CSV-MPs Martine Hansen and Marc Spautz.

The minister anticipated the question of a potential risk of transmission of the coronavirus to vulnerable people by stating that in such a case, the people affected would naturally have to apply very strict hygiene measures, such as wearing an FFP2 mask.

Ministry plans regular tests

As with the first Large Scale Testing (LST) scheme, nursing home employees have been regularly invited to get tested since the launch of the second LST scheme, Lenert assured worried MPs. In practice, an LST mobile team intervened "very regularly" in homes where a cluster occurred.

A schedule has also been set up by the National Health Directorate and the Ministry of Family Affairs to systematically test the elderly people living in these care facilities.

The procedure for taking samples internally was "currently being reviewed", explained the minister in regard to retirement and care homes. In fact, several of them would like their own caregivers to take the samples, which they argue would give greater reassurance to the residents.