Nursing homes in the United States make up more than 40% of our country’s coronavirus-related deaths even though nursing homes make up less than 10% of the total documented coronavirus cases in the U.S. On the one hand, this isn’t that surprising as nursing home residents make up some of the members of our country’s population who are at the highest risk. Nursing homes, however, have seen intensely high numbers, and it turns out those numbers have not been equally dispersed across the country. Why?
A study led by George Washington University professor Adam Dean published findings in Health Affairs on Sept. 10. In it, they found that even though nursing homes were hit hard by the 2019 novel coronavirus, facilities with unionized healthcare workers saw a “30% relative decrease in the COVID-19 mortality rate compared to facilities without health care worker unions.” The team also found that there was “a 42% relative decrease in COVID-19 infection rates.”
While this study left many variables uncovered, the idea that a strong labor union could be directly tied to healthier outcomes for all is not far-fetched. One of the main problems our country faced at the beginning of pandemic spread was a lack of resources. Story after story highlighted the anemic federal response and shortages in personal protective equipment for front-line health workers. But unions—and in particular the nurses’ unions—went to bat to protect their workers. In April, the New York State Nurses Association filed lawsuits over unsafe working conditions, demanding aid for the facilities their members worked in.
The study in Health Affairs focused on deaths inside of nursing homes. This means that one factor for the improved mortality rates in unionized workplaces might be connected with more prompt transfer of sick patients to hospital care. And while there are myriad factors not covered in this study—some of which are connected to the inability of researchers to get data from many non-unionized nursing home workplaces—the results are still very clear: A healthier labor force means a healthier society as unions will fight to gain the protections we all deserve, even if our government is being negligent.