According to the CDC, the elderly population are more susceptible to becoming severely ill after contracting COVID-19.  In addition, the elderly are more likely to require hospitalization, intensive care, or ventilators to help them breathe, and they may even die from the virus. Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to spread across the nation. In particular, COVID-19 has swept through nursing homes killing America’s most vulnerable population.

Shamefully, nursing home facilities have chosen to seek a “blanket immunity,” or total immunity in efforts to protect themselves from civil liability, rather than focusing on implementing measures to protect residents from this deadly disease. Nonetheless, before the rise of the pandemic, many nursing homes were renown for abusing and neglecting their residents. Nursing homes need to be held accountable for their substandard care to help decrease the likelihood of death especially during a rapidly spreading pandemic.

Since the start of the pandemic, at least fifteen (15) states have enacted laws providing a closely related blanket immunity provision, such states include: Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Although these states have implemented such immunity, Florida should not adopt this trend of providing nursing homes with a liability shield during the pandemic. Instead, Florida should require its various nursing home facilities with a closely monitored process, in which would require owners to implement better safety measures with regard to the virus. If Florida were to pass such an ordinance, these facilities are likely to respond. However, should a facility fail to follow Florida’s safety requirements, then it subjects itself to litigation. Although these precautions may seem drastic, they would ultimately provide more incentive to take special care of the elderly while preventing the spread of COVID-19.