Senior Living Communities, Liability for COVID-19 Countermeasures, and the PREP Act: Is the Tide Turning for Providers? Monday, March 8, 2021
In a February 10, 2021 ruling (the “Garcia Ruling”) out of the CDCA Court for the Central District of California (the “CDCA Court”) in the case of
., 20-02250JVS (C.D. Ca. Feb. 10, 2021), the CDCA Court held that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (42 U.S.C. § 247d–6d) (the “PREP Act”) provides senior living facilities with an exemption from civil liability for actions taken by such facilities to protect facility residents from COVID-19.
Given that long-term care and senior living facilities have experienced a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases and deaths nationwide during the pandemic,[1] with many states having experienced their worst COVID-19 outbreaks and highest number of deaths in long-term care facilities in December 2020,[2] the extension of PREP Act liability protections to senio