Feb. 16 marks five years since losing my grandmother to neglect due to being locked out of her assisted living facility in Dover. For months, a foot wound festered to the point of causing sepsis, which ultimately killed her. The facility did not communicate the wound care with our family and did not transfer her to the right level of care to treat her foot. Unfortunately, my family’s story is not unique to Delaware or across the nation.
Isolation from loved ones removed resident access to critical advocates, allowing injuries to go untreated and even death from failure to thrive. Visitation is more than simply spending time together. As much as I loved watching Phillies games with my grandmother, the ability to be her voice in times of need took precedence. Fear of retaliation is real in long-term-care facilities, and she was never alone with me throughout the pandemic, robbing her of the opportunity to speak freely.
Delaware remained in a state of emergency until May 2023 during the pandemic. While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated federal guidance for visitation in September 2020, Delaware did not release updated guidelines until March 17, 2021. Long-term-care facility visitation policies varied throughout the state, and families could not get clear guidance on what was allowed.
“Nursing home visitor policy and COVID-19 infection rates” by Xu, Huiwen et al., published in December 2025 in the American Journal of Infection Control concluded, “allowing visitors in the context of adequate preventative measures was safe, even during a period of high community transmission and before vaccine rollouts.”
Several states have passed Essential Caregiver Acts, protecting the visitation rights of residents, and H.R.6766, a federal bill, was reintroduced in December 2025. Half a decade later, nothing currently protects Delaware residents of long-term-care facilities from the same lockdowns. Our mission as citizens should be to ensure the world is better for the next generation. Let’s start with not allowing history to repeat itself. What are we waiting for?
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