Preventing respiratory illness in older adults aged 60 years and above living in long-term care: A rapid overview of reviews

Patricia Rios; Amruta Radhakrishnan; Sonia M. Thomas; Nazia Darvesh; Sharon E. Straus; Andrea C. Tricco

Intervention: Any form of infection control and prevention, such as hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene/etiquette, personal protective equipment (for patients and health care providers), triage (on arrival), source control, isolation, daily monitoring/surveillance for signs and symptoms of respiratory illness (e.g., in residence, environmental cleaning, cleaning of linen and medical equipment used by patients, restrictions on resident movement and transportation, restrictions on visitors, restrictions on travel for health care providers and other long-term care facility staff, waste management, dead body management. Only those measures used to prevent and control respiratory illnesses, including influenza and coronavirus (e.g., COVID-19, MERS, SARS) were included. Interventions focused on preventing bacterial respiratory outbreaks (e.g., strep, pneumonia, klebsiella) or aspiration pneumonia were excluded. Interventions specifically focused on vaccination were excluded, as a vaccine for the coronavirus currently does not exist.