Nursing home residents represent 73% of all COVID-19 deaths in Connecticut, the third largest percentage in the nation. The deaths are not spread evenly: as of July 21, a quarter of Connecticut’s 214 facilities had no COVID-19 deaths, but at others, a quarter to a third of residents, had died from the disease. Many factors contribute to the differences, but Governor Lamont can fix one right now, by repealing the broad immunity he granted nursing homes from COVID-related harms.

On April 5, as COVID-19 began to rage across Connecticut, Governor Lamont used his emergency powers to immunize nursing homes from negligence lawsuits over injuries related to the disease.  Connecticut was just one of twenty states that quietly immunized nursing homes in response to industry lobbying. The Connecticut order focused on health-care facilities, but, in two words of a six-page document, swept nursing homes into its reach. The order prevents negligence suits not only for deaths from COVID-19, but also injuries and deaths from other causes due to inadequate care in the face of the pandemic.