She missed seeing her children in person; she’d tried a window visit with her daughter, Christie, who lives in town, but it felt too strange to repeat. Otherwise, her new loner lifestyle was “glorious,” she said. Before COVID-19, she was always having to decide “Am I gonna do this [activity] or stay in my room and do what I really want to do?” With lockdown orders in place, she could read and write and watch TV, uninterrupted.

In October, Scott caught COVID-19. Actually, everyone at Montrose did, or at least that’s how it felt. Several residents and staff came down sick with the disease, she learned from the aides who visited her room. Three of her neighbors in the nursing home ultimately died of coronavirus-related complications. Christie called often to bring her news from the community, and one day, Scott watched from her window as a woman in the house across the street was carted away in an ambulance. Scott felt tired and weak from the disease, but she was never scared. “It’s gonna happen one of these days, one way or another,” she told me. But Scott didn’t die. She slept it off. And after a few days, she was fully recovered. She credits her confidence—and her survival—to her faith in God. “I have a very strong belief, and that’s where my security comes from,” she said.