ROME - Italian doctors and unions have warned that a government policy to send patients discharged from hospital but still positive for coronavirus to care homes is like priming"biological bombs".
Hundreds of people in care homes are feared to have succumbed to the disease - over 600 in the hard-hit Bergamo region alone - though firm data are impossible to find, with many victims reportedly going untested, experts say. "Widely using care home beds to ease pressure on hospitals... would put the elderly residents at risk, and they are the weakest link in this pandemic," he said.
"Who's going to be checking the rules are enforced?" Marco Agazzi, president of the Bergamo branch of the national union of Italian doctors, told AFP. 'HOMEMADE MASKS' Italy's national health institute said 86 per cent of care homes surveyed reported difficulties getting hold of protective equipment, while 36 per cent said they were struggling due to staff off sick.