I write regarding the sweeping order to ban all family visits to residents in long-term care facilities until Sept. 9.

With the news commonly stating that COVID-19 may and probably will reemerge in the fall, should we feel assured of visitation rights being reinstated after six long months of isolation? Might this ban on visitation morph into 12 months of isolation or more?

This is a sad burden for those unfortunate souls who find themselves caught in tragic isolation from all that they have loved in life. And to us, their family members, these are our honored and deeply loved elders. We hunger to accompany them on their final journey of life.

Surely there is a way to ensure that a visiting family member would pose no greater threat of exposure than a staff member. I would argue that a designated family member could and would take every possible precaution to safeguard him or herself and their loved one; perhaps even more so than the standard guidelines of handwashing and PPE use.

Please adopt guidelines to allow a designated family member the opportunity to visit. Please allow our loved ones this common respect and dignity of which they are so deserving.

Patrice Onofrio

Burlington, Vermont

(formerly Madison, CT)