LYON – As the coronavirus scythed through nursing homes, cutting a deadly path, Valerie Martin vowed to herself that the story would be different in the home she runs in France.
The action she took to keep COVID-19 at bay, to stop it from infecting and killing the vulnerable older adults in her care, was both drastic and effective: Martin and her staff locked themselves in with the 106 residents.
For 47 days and nights, staff and residents of the Vilanova nursing home on the outskirts of the east-central city of Lyon waited out the coronavirus storm together, while the illness killed more than 9,000 people in other homes in France.