As an American who loves her family, I am appalled and heartbroken for family members of patients in hospitals and nursing homes who have been refused the right to visit and advocate for their loved one. Patients are kept isolated from their families when they need them most for comfort and support, and in many cases to be their voice when they are unable to communicate for themselves. Every patient should be allowed one visitor to stay in the room with them so that they can be there to receive medical updates, offer a comforting touch, a drink of water, or call the nurse when the patient is unable to do so. The designated visitor should be screened just like hospital staff. The risk in allowing this is no more than it is for the hospital staff to come and go from the hospital on a daily basis. The greater risk lies in the emotional, psychological, and physical health of both the patient and the family caregiver, who are denied this basic human right. No words can describe the unspeakable pain of family members outside the building, where their loved one is being treated  and needing them, and they are forbidden to be there. And only the patient knows the horror of being alone when they most need the familiar love of their family.