DeSantis Considers Senior Home Visits Amid Opposition

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he is considering opening up assisted living and nursing communities to visits amid a rising death toll from the coronavirus, reports the Associated Press . His comments followed a dialogue with hospital doctors, and he said there are rapid tests to ensure visitors are not infected. "If you have the ability to do that, then I think that we need to start to talk about visitation again," DeSantis said, emphasizing the isolation that long-term care community residents are suffering in quarantine. The state has prohibited nursing community visits since mid-March, and banned the return of residents testing positive for the virus to communities that lack an isolation ward. Staff also must be tested every two weeks, though current backlogs in receiving testing results has limited this policy in some cases. Jay Solomon with Sarasota's Aviva senior living campus agrees with DeSantis' concerns about loneliness and isolation, but opposes reopening at this time. "Senior living communities can only open after the state takes more direct action in controlling the spread of COVID and we see the state-wide positivity rate drop to under 5 percent in comparison to the 12.7 percent we are at today," he contended.