A group of seniors held a protest outside of their nursing home Thursday over coronavirus restrictions preventing them from seeing their family, according to Fox News.
Residents of Fairacres Manor, a Colorado nursing home and rehab facility, have been unable to physically touch their families since the start of the pandemic, according to CBS Denver. To protest these restrictions, more than 20 senior residents and staff members gathered on the street for nearly two hours, CBS Denver reported.
Nursing Home Residents In Colorado Protest COVID-19 Restrictions. Several of the residents in the protest were in wheelchairs and held signs reading, “Rather die from COVID than loneliness” and “prisoners in our own home.” #lockdown #circuitbreak #liverpoollockdown pic.twitter.com/ElNeRV0yjg
— Flint Bedrock ???????????????? (@flintbedrock) October 14, 2020
Fairacres Manor allows visitors five days a week, Ben Gonzales, the manor’s assistant administrator, told the Greeley Tribune. Following Colorado’s COVID-19 guidelines, visitors must remain 6 feet apart and be equipped with proper face protection. Staff and residents of the manor sent letters to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment earlier this year in hopes of loosening these restrictions, according to the Greeley Tribune.
Of the 95 residents, 16 coronavirus cases were reported between late March to mid-May, the Greeley Tribune reported. There has not been a known case since April among both staff and residents, according to the CBS Denver.
The protests were organized by residents Sharon Peterson and Josie Sanchez, according to the Greeley Tribune. “We want to see our families. We miss the hugs. We don’t like the distancing anymore,” Peterson told the Greeley Tribune.
A sign held by one resident read “I’d rather die of COVID than loneliness.”
Nursing Home Residents In Greeley Protest COVID-19 Restrictions
“Rather die from COVID than loneliness,” one resident wrote on a sign for the protest. https://t.co/HxxJWeY66B pic.twitter.com/dd0wi0mNJe
— Anica Padilla (@AnicaPadilla) October 9, 2020
“Social interaction is essential to physical and mental health and so we have provided guidance to residential care facilities that allows for that interaction while also keeping residents safe from COVID-19,” Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Friday, according to The Hill. (RELATED: Democratic Colorado Governor Sends Money To Ilhan Omar’s Primary Opponent)
Fairacres Manor did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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