Nettie Oliverio didn’t get to see her husband Tony in his final moments.

They were married for 43 years. Throughout their entire marriage, Nettie couldn’t remember a time they were separated more than a few days. But in June, she had to make the difficult decision to place Tony in a memory care facility because his dementia was worsening. 

After two and a half weeks at the facility, Tony contracted COVID-19. He died four days later. 

And the entire time he was there, Nettie couldn’t visit him.

“When he passed away, I couldn’t even see his body because he was COVID positive. So he was cremated without me seeing him at all,” she said. “I know that he’s gone … I have his ashes here, but because I never saw him in the hospital … and never saw him start to go downhill … my psyche doesn’t recognize that yet.” 

Experiences like this have become more common recently. Because most hospitals and skilled facilities don’t allow visitors in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many families have gone weeks without seeing their loved ones. 

Read the entire article at This Is Reno.

This portion of the article is shared as part of our collaboration with This Is Reno. This story was originally published on August 28. It was written by Bianca Wright, an alum of Noticiero Móvil.