226 - COVID-19 in Assisted Living Facilities and the Special Challenges with Alzheimer's Disease

Assisted living facilities are small, congregate settings that make infection control measures harder to implement. These facilities also care for a large proportion of residents with Alzheimer's disease—a challenge for enforcing guidance like mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing. Dr. Morgan Katz, a Hopkins geriatrician and infectious disease specialist, and Shanna Dell, lead infection control adviser on the outbreak team of the Baltimore City Health Department talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about these challenges and about a new, free course available on Coursera developed to help assisted living facilities to keep their residents safe. KEYWORDS: mental health; pandemic response; geriatric health