TEXAS, USA — Sharing a meal together is a simple pleasure that Prestige Estates Assisted Living residents don’t take for granted. The pandemic forced them apart but JoAnne McMeans, Community Relations Liason for the estate says that new CDC guidance has slowly brought them back together.
“We were excited after such a long wait, that things were beginning to open up," she said. "And so we actually had t-shirts made saying that it's been 154 days since we had been able to have our families in.”
These residents, and residents in other healthcare facilities like UT-Health East Texas, will be allowed to have multiple visitors at a time depending on the area of the hospital.
COVID-19 and emergency room patients are still limited to one and two visitors at a time respectively. Longview Regional Medical Center is also sticking with a two visitor policy for all hospital patients.
Erin Baggs visited Prestigious Estates to see her mother and said she’s feeling the barriers of the pandemic crumble around her.
“It's like life. Life is coming back and you know, it's wonderful to be able to come anytime between the open hours and pop in and check on your mother,” she said.
She’s especially grateful for the people who live here and continued, “Some of these people I've heard haven't seen anybody in a year, or maybe haven't been out of their room and I can't imagine the despair of not being able to interact with other humans.”
Residents can hug each other and their loved ones. Also, if both the visitor and resident are vaccinated and in a private setting, the CDC says they can take off their masks.
McMeans added, "I hope that Texans will remember not to throw all caution to the wind, just because things are getting better. Let's not be stubborn about it."