Rapid evidence review of measures to prevent and mitigate the risk of COVID-19 in social care

The importance of considering the evidence for measures to prevent and mitigate the risk of COVID-19 in social care has recently been powerfully summarised by the Social Care Institute of Excellence which stated “COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on social care. By June 2020 there had been more than 30,500 excess deaths among care home residents, and social care staff have been more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as other adults. Deep-rooted inequalities in society have also been amplified by the crisis, as have the sector’s fragile finances and the low pay and conditions experienced by many care workers.” (2020a, p. 1) There are a number of reasons which increase the risks in social care including: the physical proximity needed to provide much of social care; the settings and circumstances in which social care tends to be provided, especially congregated and communal settings but also domiciliary workers visiting multiple homes; and the people who need social care are more likely to have health needs and social circumstances which mean that COVID-19 is a greater threat to their health and wellbeing (Green et al., 2020). The main aim of this report is to provide an updated compilation of international evidence describing measures that have been put in place to prevent and mitigate against the risk of COVID-19 transmission in social care settings.