“At 86, Diane Nixon, living in an apartment at the back of a daughter’s house, no longer drives and has trouble getting around.

“When her health worsened last year before the coronavirus pandemic, she and all four of her daughters talked about whether a nursing home would be the next step. She worried that she had become a burden to her children.

“’She was very adamant about not wanting her daughters to be caregivers,’ said Jill Cooper, one of her daughters, who lives nearby in the Pittsburgh area.

“But as infections began to tear through nursing homes across the country, killing tens of thousands of residents last year, Ms. Nixon and her family realized a group home was no longer a viable choice. Especially after most of them barred visitors to help contain outbreaks.

“’Not to be able to see her was not an option for us,’ Ms. Cooper said, so the family contacted a local home health agency to hire someone to help her during the day.”

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