Florida's DeSantis Expands Visitation at Nursing, Assisted Living Communities in Time for Thanksgiving

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced plans to expand visitation at nursing and assisted living communities statewide, reports the Orlando Weekly . Chiefly, the state will permit outdoor visitation, regardless of whether the facilities have COVID-19 infections. Back in the spring, Florida barred visitors to nursing and assisted living communities as part of a concerted effort to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. On Sept. 1, though, the DeSantis administration issued an executive order authorizing visitation to resume and providing broad guidelines that nursing communities were required to follow. This most recent announcement will change the guidelines to allow expanded visitation. During an appearance late last week in Fort Myers, DeSantis reiterated his view that it is important for residents of senior care communities to have visits from family members. He reasoned, "If a family is in a situation where they are behaving in a safe way and the facilities are doing what they need to do, we need to be able to have family connections."