It has almost been a year since the
state restricted visitors to nursing homes and long-term care facilities
because of COVID-19, and advocates marked it with signs on a lawn in Greenwich.
There are over 100 signs discussing
isolation and names of the people who died in nursing homes and those who are
still feeling isolated.
Members of
Connecticut Caregivers for Compromise and its supporters gathered in Greenwich
Monday to demand answers.
"There hasn't been true access
to residents. They haven't had an opportunity to have meaningful visits in all
cases," says State Long Term Care Ombudsman Marade Painter.
The state lifted many of those
restrictions last summer, and it left visitations up to each individual nursing
care facility.
The state says nursing home deaths
represent 50% of Connecticut's coronavirus-related deaths.