Laura Corridi's heart dropped in her chest when she saw the caller ID on her phone.

It was an automated call from Northgate Health Care Facility, where her mother lives. She knew they were calling to tell her there's been a positive COVID-19 case.

Although nursing home visitation restrictions are loosening, one of the rules is there must be no positive COVID-19 cases inside a nursing home for 14 days before visitors are allowed in.

The call Corridi got came on day 13.

She says visitations are alphabetical, so she still would have had to wait a few more days.

"Every day you pray you don't get a call and as it gets closer, you get excited and when you see that number pop up, it's not good,” she said.

She hasn't been inside to see her 92-year-old mother in-person in a year. Instead, all she can do is say hello from outside.

"She doesn't understand why all of the other people are in there and I'm not."

She wants to see the 14-day quarantine rule relaxed.

"There's been new guidance that people aren't quarantining for 14 days and now it is 10 days.”

She also says her mother is vaccinated. As of Feb. 24, According to the state, 92 percent of nursing home residents in Western New York are vaccinated. 

The CDC says people who have had both doses of the vaccine do not need to quarantine if they come in contact with a positive case, but nursing home residents and other hospitals patients are not included in this. They are still required to quarantine.

"Put those people who have not had a shot on a separate wing so that they don't get visitors,” she said.

She says the isolation has changed her mother in negative ways.

New York State is also saying counties with COVID-19 rates lower than 5 percent are recommended to be tested before entering a facility, but they are not required. Corridi says this is not want families want, as she thinks that could lead to more cases spreading. 

"We will wear our PPE, take our tests, we will do all of the things an employee does to see our loved ones,” she said. “Elderly people, they don't have time on their hands to just wait."

As for when Corridi can see her mom next, she doesn't know. But, she's hoping to be there for her mother's birthday in March.