He died in a nursing home in Kansas City in April 2020 after contracting Covad, 19, 1 of 100,000 such cases and facilities across the United States.

Her daughter Garnets Robertson, says the home failed to prevent a deadly outbreak of the disease.

I was going there, want to have them bring my mother down so I could see her because of something prior, and when they brought her down she had a mask on.

So they immediately came outside to me and said, Oh, by the way, we have our first case or cases of the virus So my question to them, Waas, if you have a a known case, why is my mother down in the lobby?

Why is she not in her room and why haven't any of us been contacted?

Because what they said Waas, we're sending letters to everybody.

You can't send me a letter to get four or five days later and the virus is in the facility.

But the river been post acute rehabilitation where Georgia died is one of the least 36 facilities claiming legal immunity in such wrongful death cases under a 2005 law known as the Prep Act.

It was amended recently following lobbying efforts by the elderly care industry.

The Department of Health and Human Services says it now applies to organizations who failed to provide appropriate protective equipment or properly trained staff.

An allegation in most of the nursing home lawsuits.

Law professor Mike Duff from Wyoming University.

The purpose of the act was to provide US immunity, UH, Thio persons who are actually manufacturing and distributing countermeasures, vaccines, treatments and so forth that are meant to counter a virus and illness pandemic.

Just the kinds of things that we're that we're witnessing now.

And so there is sweeping immunity under this law so that however the liability might be styled, you know, there's a lot of ways you could sort of characterize liability in law, like if it's tort liability or some kind of contract theory, it's it's very, very sweeping.

The only thing that's not exempted is, um, willful or intentional conduct, but that's very, very hard to prove.

So far, no judge has adopted the nursing homes view of the law, But legal arguments about whether invoking the prep act means that cases should be held in a federal rather than state court has led to months of delays for relatives like Harness Robertson.

If I don't trust you with the health and welfare of my loved one, I expect you to hold that to the utmost.

And for yet I think for them to allow laws to protect them is not right.

It's just it's just not right.

So you know, it's emotional for me even to think about it and talk about it.

But if I'm feeling the way I feel, how do you think all these other people feel about the system allowing them to get by with this?

It's just not It's not right, it's not right.