With new variance of covid my experience as a Master Plumber is if you are going to put your loved ones in a nursing Home and or assisted living make sure they HEAP filtered air thoughout the facilities and cameras to check to see how their loved ones are being taken care of properly. On the onset in 2020 of the Pandemic they did not, and thousands caught the virus and Died.
With that being said cdiff is a bigger killer in nursing homes than covid. If they can't stop that no amount of vaccines and boosters is going to stop covid.
Nursing homes are just warehouses for old people to go to in order to die. Keeping the dying alive in these warehouses is a big and profitable business. It is amazing how much the human body and mind can deteriorate and still keep going day after day. We are like machines programmed to survive at all costs no matter how much suffering and pain the body and mind is in.
Then as this incidious virus was better studied, it was found to be airborne.
So PPE is good & HEPA filters are good. But the virus is also good & getting better. Omicron is ripping though my city now.
Apparently a new variant is on it's way from France (least it will be chic, eh?.. Le Pi, or are we up to another letter?)
So to answer the original question. Do I think NHs are safe enough? Unsure.
Do I think they are doing what they can? Mostly. Do I think it is 100% preventable? No.
Here the visitors and the staff are screened and tested, there are vaccine mandates for staff, plus most residents have voluntarily gotten their 3 shots. Vaccination rates in the community at large is very high (85% - 90%) plus masking is mandated.
But it's still getting in.
The rainbow is that vaccinated residents are now experiencing very mild symptoms or are completely asymptomatic. And unlike the first wave staff who are infected are usually able to return to work quickly, avoiding the staff shortages that lead to many of the worst outcomes in the initial wave.
FYI my 86-yr old MIL had the original covid in that facility, was extremely sick, then on hospice for 4 weeks and then had a full recovery. She was vaccinated when it was made available to her.
Please understand that this virus cannot be controlled -- Hepa filters or not. Each variant is less and less deadly, even though it is more transmissible. Eventually we will all have herd immunity and it will be an annoyance, like a cold or seasonal flu. Those who are at higher risk are the ones who need to take precautions.