With covid, what is the best way to "tour" nursing facilities? If you can't go look around, how do you know how they operate?

My uncle’s nursing home isn’t allowing tours due to Covid. They only admit from one local hospital, the patient has to quarantine in a special unit. They are the only nursing home in this area. Most people have some knowledge of their good reputation .

You can ask for a video tour of places you’re interested in, that’ll help with seeing the physical facility. As for what the place is like, my dad had a group we called “the old people network” that knew what places were good and which were to be avoided. Their age group had friends and family in facilities often and they learned from it. See about a group of elderly people and what they might know

Join Nextdoor.com and ask the people local to you for recommendations.

You are stuck with zoom and etc. I would enlist one of the agencies that are paid by the facility if you choose that facility, such as A Place for Mom. They will gather all info on needs, on assets, on what is important and help you with at home Zoom tours in all likelihood. Don't forget to ask about Board and Care. Ask all entities you tour for their packets on care options, on staffing ratios, on level of care qualifications, and etc.

My mothers MCF has virtual tours but most important ask the facility for names of family members of current residents you can contact. If they won’t do that move on. I have spoken to several families about my mom’s facility and her place encourages it. I had my mother in another facility 2 years ago and it turned out to be an awful place. They would question me whenever they saw me talking to another family member and talked about privacy and HiPpa but they really wanted to keep us from comparing notes.