No hugging your children, grandchildren, husband, or wife — inside or outside of the facility. Those were the rules in Colorado nursing homes. Residents are allowed to have visitors, but these visitors must maintain their distance, according to the state’s coronavirus guidelines.

But many of the senior citizens living with these rules said they want to see them changed. About 20 residents, many in wheelchairs, gathered outside of Fairacres Manor in Greeley, Colorado, last week to protest the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. Assisted by several of the facility’s staff members, the residents held signs that read, “We want families back,” “Prisoners in our own home,” and “Rather die from COVID than loneliness.”