Sir, – I'd like to support Sarah Lennon when she writes, "simply locking nursing home residents away from their families and loved ones is not the answer" (Letters, November 16th).
In England, a judge has recently ruled that contact with family members is a human right for people in residential settings, which perhaps explains why the authorities there are planning pods and swift testing for visitors.
People in nursing homes and other residential care settings don’t have any choice or say in the public health measures imposed. Keeping them safe from Covid has to be balanced against the misery of loneliness which many, especially those with limited understanding, feel when they cannot see close family.
People in nursing homes do not have long lives ahead of them and cannot wait indefinitely.
As an older person, I am far more anxious about the possibility of being locked away from my family in a nursing home than I am about catching Covid. – Yours, etc,
MÁIRÍDE
WOODS,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.