Christmas decorations in Care Homes?

There have been some “Shock! Horror!” newspaper stories going round the press about Christmas decorations in care homes in relation to infection control. I find myself asking why everyone is so upset.  If we all really believed decorations were dangerous, we’d be dancing round a bonfire and throwing them into the flames. In fact, people are upset because they don’t believe there’s a risk, and they are fed up with stupid rules that make life complicated or miserable but don’t reduce the spread of disease.

Infection risk and Christmas decorations 

Let’s start by looking again at infection risk.   The risk from Christmas trimmings has never been raised as an issue before, so we can assume this is a new Covid-19 related anxiety.  That means we need to look at how Covid-19 is spread.

Stale air….  

If the air in the room is never changed or filtered, then all the viruses spread by all the people who have been in the room stay in the air, and get breathed in by the next lot of people

Hanging around….

You might pass through a stuffy room like that, but if you keep moving and you are only there for a short time, the viral load is likely to be slight, and one that you can resist

Infected people not wearing masks….

They really do spread disease even if they don’t have symptoms.  They breath it out.  Your own mask might protect you a little bit, but it depends on whether you are careful about how you take it off and put it on.  Stuffing it in your pocket or polishing your specs with it rather defeats some of the purpose, but it is always good for reduction of spread of spit.

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases….

If someone else’s droplets hit your nose, eyes or mouth, you could be getting a heavy dose directly where it is most risky

Your hands….  

If you touched a surface that someone’s droplets fell upon, and then touch your nose, eyes or mouth, your hands become a vector for the virus.  It’s hard not to touch your face, so washing your hands a lot is really sensible.  You could wash the whole world regularly in case you touch any part of it, but it’s faster just to wash your hands.  Then you can be clear whether you missed a bit.  The control of that kind of disease transmission is literally “in your hands”.

So that’s what we are up against.  There is a lot of surface cleaning going on.  I like to see surface cleaning, especially when it is a surface that I might touch.  I wonder, though, about the obsession with cleaning the top of the picture frames or things that are out of reach.  It probably feels good even though it makes no difference because no one ever reaches up there apart from the cleaning person.  But we are where we are with this now. 

Deck the halls - is it risky?

Finally let’s look at the risk presented by decorations.  The basics are a tree, some lights and baubles with a bit of tinsel.  Then you might have paper or plastic garlands?    After you have put the tree up, do you fiddle about with it and touch it?  Are the garlands up on the ceiling, or somewhere low down, catching sneezes and spreading them to your hands as you run your fingers along them? Surely it is possible to decorate the place out of reach of hands.

It is impossible to see how decorations spread Covid19 as long as no one touches them.  And if you wash your hands after, you can even touch them.  So why is this such a big story?  Where it is being reported it is less about the clever, imaginative things homes are doing to be cheerful and more about how daft some of the rules seem.  I loved the stories of care homes creating a winter wonderland outside for residents to look upon outside.  If you want to help, buy some outdoor lights and donate them to your nearest home…. And let’s start a winter festival of light.

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