Testing continues to provide all negative results for the campus. Our last positive occurred at Chateau on 2 Feb. Yesterday I had an extended conversation with state and county health department individuals to identify what data they needed for their records since our outbreak was declared on 5 Oct 20. Information was sent and now Chateau is waiting for the decision to resolve the outbreak. I am hopeful we will hear back in the next few days and we will be able to implement other programs.
The indoor visits in the long-term care center are have begun with minimal issues. Again, a reminder, as difficult as it is, please comply with the direction provided by state health officials to maintain social distancing of 6’ from the resident (so unfortunately no touching), wear your mask and encourage your loved one to wear theirs. We continue to look for ways to realign employee schedules to increase visit opportunities at the Care Center. Please provide feedback with our short survey (1 question) to improve our visitation process. Also, we started providing hair services this week in the Care Center only. When the outbreak is resolved at Chateau, we will get Amy back on campus to provide services.
Active outbreaks are at 51 (no change from last week) still active in the community with 8 of those being in health facilities/entities. Positives for February is 219, however, the rolling average for positive results for individuals tested in the last 7 days has crept up to 5% from 2% last week. A concern in how accurately knowing how prevalent the virus is in the community is the number of tests have dropped significantly from the levels tested in Nov 20. We have reduced from almost 6,000 tests performed in a week in mid-Nov to 770 tests performed last week. Parkview Hospital continues to see decreased hospitalizations related to COVID with 5 cases as of yesterday while St Mary Corwin also 1 COVID cases in their care. Parkview reported occupancy was 196 while St Mary Corwin is reporting 22 for occupancy. This leaves 67 available beds between the hospitals.
The last clinic is scheduled for Chateau on 3 Mar (next Wed). We are going to include a few of the Care Center residents who have joined us since our last clinic and received the 1 st dose elsewhere, so they have completed the series. We still have no information yet as to how the vaccination program will affect our direction for changes to our resident’s daily lives or any changes to visitation practice. The issue has been addressed with the Pueblo Health Department and we were informed guidance will be shared once developed.
Again, the changes to visitation in the near term will be only for Shamar Village as Chateau is still in outbreak status. As a reminder, this letter is provided electronically either through email or our website. We do mail a copy the first week a new admit joins us if no email has been provided to share the information on how to receive future copies via the website. If you are not receiving by email and would like to do so, let us know your address.
Please contact the facilities with your questions and I appreciate your patience with our return calls to address your concerns or questions.
Sincerely,
Keith Jackson
Executive Director
