This is the first piece I've seen on the nursing home devastation that's from the perspective of an actual resident. What it's like to be confined in a room w/ another resident who has a worsening "smoker's cough," and the home does nothing about it. Nuts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-wait-in-our-nursing-home-helpless/2020/04/22/8900c0c4-83f4-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html

Seriously, think about all our panic over vastly less risky contact in our lives today--food deliveries, etc--and then imagine being left alone in a room with a likely coronavirus patient for *days* before anyone does anything.

"...Christine kept getting worse, hacking like she was about to throw up. She complained that she felt tired and hot, even though we’d opened the window to let in fresh air. She said she just wanted to rest..."

"Fewer and fewer staff members showed up to work...I kept seeing the same faces, for longer hours. There are around 25 residents on my floor. Normally, we had three people working on the floor during each day shift, but we got down to two people, sometimes one..."

"...On April 15, the nursing home called my daughter, notifying her that Christine was positive. She asked them to test me too. I got a swab, and then they officially put us in isolation—together. Meanwhile, it seemed like no one had told Christine anything about her results..."

"...Staff said that they would not separate us, and that they didn’t have another room to put me in, anyway. Christine kept saying, 'Help me.' I’d ask where she hurt, or if I should hit the call button for her. When nurses came, they said there was nothing they could give her..."

"A nurse told me to turn off TV bc the media was causing her anxiety. 'To heck with that,' I said. 'I want to know what’s going on, because we are secluded.' How would you feel if you were next in line to get this virus--if you were in danger--and no one would tell you anything?"