It’s the family reunion Mary and Charles Chappell have been longing for.

“We had routine visits that we would go to visit both of them,” said Mary. “So, it’s been very difficult.”

Charles’ mother lives in Loretto Cunningham while his step mother lives in Peregrine Senior Living.

“My mother-in-law, who is at Loretto, she has a type of dementia where she’s very forgetful,” said Mary.

“She kind of struggled when I said ‘this is Skip, your son,’” said Charles. “She didn’t understand. I don’t know what it’s going to be like when we finally see her again. I don’t know if she’s going to remember.”

The Chappells are excited to finally come face-to-face with their loved ones again, now that state leaders released new visitation guidelines. Nursing homes can have visitors if they haven’t had a COVID-19 case within the past 14 days. Guests will be tested depending on the county’s positivity rate. If it’s below 5 percent, they don’t have to take a test, but it’s recommended. If it’s between 5-10 percent, testing is required. No one is allowed to visit if it’s above 10 percent.

Charles said the rules are reasonable.

“Would we like to see everybody tested or be vaccinated?” said Charles. “Sure we do, because we’ve been vaccinated so we’d like to make sure COVID doesn’t find its way in any form.”

Officials also said a test is not required if guests have been vaccinated and are still within 90 days of their second dose. However, testing is encouraged and it will be provided by the state. Visitations will also be in separate rooms with a limited number of guests. The Chappells say they’re just eager to share the same space with family again. 

“I’d like to hug them, but I’m not so sure they’ll permit that,” said Charles. “I think that’s going to be very awkward because you always hug and kiss when you seem them, and we probably won’t be allowed to do that.”

“There’s still restrictions to some degree,” said Mary. “Still have your mask on. I assume we’ll still have to do the social distancing. So, it’s still not quite the same, but it’s better than what we have.”

The regulations go into effect Friday. The Chappells hope they can see their loved ones as soon as Saturday.