Miscellaneous
On March 12, just as the novel coronavirus starting showing up in local communities, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to keep visitors out of nursing homes. It was clear, even at that early stage, that senior citizens were at the greatest risk of serious illness and death if they contracted the virus. As of this week , between 42% and 47% of the 250 people who have died from COVID-19 in Monroe County have been nursing home residents. But the measure intended to protect them is taking its own toll. "With prolonged isolation, people not only get anxiety and depression, they eat less, they lose strength, they may fall more, and all of these things are life threatening as well to them, and certainly impact their quality of life," said Dr. Joseph Nicholas, medical director of The Highlands at Brighton, a nursing home operated by the University of Rochester Medical Center. Those possible affects he listed? They weigh heavily on my and my siblings' minds. My 91-year-old mother,