Residents of elderly home ‘practically live in terror’ as facility struggles with COVID-19 outbreak

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"The drama surrounding the masks was really a big drama," explained Dr Sgreccia, the Medical Director at the Senigallia residency for the elderly on the east coast of Italy while he gave a unique insight into the numerous problems they have encountered since the COVID-19 outbreak began. The footage, filmed on Friday, highlights the measures health workers and sick patients are taking to stop any further spread of the virus.

"It's dramatic in the sense that we didn't even have any surgical masks anymore," began Dr Sgreccia as he showed a reporter the facility.

"We didn't have any, we couldn't buy any because we didn't have the permission to do so. That is because they were commissioned, and rightly so, for the civil defence, but here we have a fragile situation," he went on to say.

The residency hosts 240 elderly patients and is doing all it can to keep the spread of the virus as low as possible. Unfortunately, getting hold of supplies is difficult as general hospitals have the priority right now, as one nurse explained. "All closed their doors on us a little bit in the sense that everything they were able to produce was destined for the hospitals," explained nurse Noemi Olivetti while discussing the suppliers they usually use.

Despite the dark situation, the elderly patient interviewed showed a glimmer of hope. Though admitting "I practically live in terror", one patient told us that she has "hope that we will make it."

"I'm not scared of death, I'm only scared about not being able to see my children again," the patient went on to explain.

Dr Sgreccia confirmed that no visitors are allowed on the location and to try and keep the spirits of the patients high they use "systems like Skype and WhatsApp, or wherever one can, to keep in touch with their families."

Italy is the nation that has been the worst-hit in terms of fatalities since the COVID-19 outbreak began, with 13,915 deaths thus far. Over 115,000 confirmed cases have been reported in Italy.

Video ID: 20200403-043

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