Life in US nursing homes slowly returns to normal

Life is slowly getting back to normal in America's nursing homes. New guidelines released this month from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, directs nursing homes and assisted living facilities to allow indoor visitation at all times regardless of the resident or visitor's vaccination status, giving older Americans and their families a glimpse into what life may look like in a post-vaccine world.

Several exceptions are flagged, like when a resident is known to be infected or in quarantine. On the east coast, 94-year-old Gloria Winston, her great niece and her 5-year-old great-great niece shared a flurry of hugs for the first time since the onset of the pandemic at her retirement community in Providence, Rhode Island.

On the west coast, Celia Olson spent the day sitting next to her 92-year-old mother on an outdoor deck at a nursing home in Berkeley, California, catching up on family news and events. It was just their second in-person visit since the visitation rules were relaxed.

The updated rules come as coronavirus cases and deaths among nursing home residents have fallen drastically and vaccine supplies have picked up in the U.S. At its peak, nursing homes had more than 30,000 confirmed cases and over 7,000 deaths among residents during the month of December, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But by the end of last week, there were less than 1,300 cases and about 500 deaths among residents so far in March.