The coronavirus pandemic has been especially hard on the elderly population. They have been advised to strictly adhere to social distancing guidelines and to stay at home whenever possible.
That can get very lonely, especially for those who are in care homes. This means that friends and loved ones cannot visit them in person in many cases.
A Senior home in Brazil noticed that its residents were very unhappy, so they created a “hug tunnel” so that they could hug their loved ones without risking infection.
❤️❤️❤️ A home care facility in Brazil created a "hug tunnel" for elderly people to safely embrace them.
"We noticed that our senior residents were feeling sad. We thought they would be much happier if we found a way for them to hug their relatives." https://t.co/cIhWpW0KYQ
— SEIU (@SEIU) June 24, 2020
Rubia Santos, the care home’s administrator told CNN:
“We noticed that our senior residents were feeling sad. We thought they would be much happier if we found a way for them to hug their relatives.”
The home’s twenty-eight residents have been in isolation since March 17.
The home got the idea for the hug tunnel from a viral video for the United States. They used plastic attached to the facility’s door and four armholes. This allows people to hug their loved ones without coming into contact with each other.
To keep the area sanitized, they sanitize the plastic every 30 minutes and schedule the visits ahead of time. Santos said all visitors were given temperature checks before coming to the hug tunnel.
Care home creates 'Hug tunnel'. I'm in! https://t.co/Z6uujxZPgr
— Sara Livadeas (@saralivadeas) June 20, 2020
Brazil has the second-highest number of cases and deaths next to the United States. They have lost over 54,000 people to date and have over 1 million cases. The President of Brazil continues to dismiss the coronavirus as a “little flu.”
Our own President Donald Trump has decided to stop testing because the numbers make him look bad. Then, the White House walked back his comments saying that the President made the comments in jest. Yes, our own President is either being serious or sarcastic about slowing down testing and we can’t figure out which one it is.
Featured image via Três Figueiras
