The crisis in which we find ourselves embroiled is unlike any we’ve ever faced. The Federal Government and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have laid out specific steps aimed at minimizing the fatal ramifications of this disease. Each of us has a responsibility to follow the steps to protect not only ourselves but for everyone with which we come into contact. Whether we realize it or not, every time we stop at a red light we’re agreeing to an unspoken social contract that we have with every motorist coming from a different direction. It’s just so obvious that if we don’t stop, people could die. This social contract has never been more important than right now in relation to the Coronavirus. We have to accept our responsibilities to each other during this uncertain time, which means following the CDC’s directives on social distancing, the wearing of masks and gloves in public, and sheltering in place when mandated to do so.
A report recently came out that certain nursing homes within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did not follow the social distancing guidelines or otherwise take precautions that the situation demanded. As a result a large number of the most vulnerable among us, the infirm, became infected, and in many cases the infection proved fatal. That is unacceptable.
We are all in this together. That’s true. But that means we all have a heightened duty to protect each other. That is particularly true for those being paid to care for our elderly. If a loved one was infected and/or died because of institutional failure as discussed above, you should consider contacting us. And you should also know that we would only consider holding responsible a nursing home or long-term care facility if they truly ignored the guidelines and exposed our husbands, wives, parents, grandparents … to needless exposure to a deadly virus.
Please be safe and look out for one another until this societal plague passes.
