Mother s Day Visits Return To Massachusetts Nursing Homes
Resident Helen Robbins, who lives at Pond Home, an assisted living facility in Wrentham, Mass., plans to visit with her daughter Kathy Restuccia on Mother s Day this year for the first time since the pandemic began last March.
Marilyn Schairer / GBH News
Mother s Day returns to senior homes
After spending last Mother s Day on lockdown, residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities will welcome visitors and celebrate the holiday at the homes of family and friends this weekend.
Massachusetts has eased restrictions for the state s 400 nursing homes due to the increased number of vaccinations and low infection rates. The change means people like Helen Robbins can visit their children and grandchildren on Mother s Day.
One nursing home won t see the vaccine until Jan. 15, another won t have all of its people vaccinated until mid-February and a couple others are still waiting to hear when their residents and staff will be vaccinated.
A spokesperson for the state s COVID-19 Command Center said vaccinations clinics are scheduled over the next several weeks, but didn t answer the reason as to why some long-term care facilities won t see the vaccine for weeks.
Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout in Massachusetts, which is expected to go into February, includes long-term care facilities as second in line behind clinical and COVID-facing health care workers.
BROCKTON Since March, when the coronavirus first knowingly arrived in Brockton, more than 150 residents of city nursing homes have succumbed to COVID-19.
The five nursing homes were ravaged by the highly contagious disease early in the pandemic, with hundreds of residents becoming infected.
None of the city s nursing homes have reported any new deaths attributed to COVID-19 since at least Sept. 8, when the death toll increased by two over the previous week.
Having no new deaths can partly be attributed to a low number of new cases since that time. The COVID-19 cycle begins with new cases, hospitalizations follow and ultimately there are some deaths.