20 Oct 21
Residents and Family Members,
We have completed the twice weekly 100% testing for residents and staff at Chateau. We have all negative results from the 5 rounds of testing performed. The one staff member was our only positive that initiated the testing requirement. Testing for any unvaccinated residents (first 2 weeks after admission) and staff continues twice a week for Sharmar and Chateau going forward due to the high risk of transmission currently in the county.
Yesterday we re-engaged state contacts for scheduling a follow up booster clinic. They are working through their process and our desire would be the clinic will be scheduled sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. We continue to progress towards the state’s vaccine mandate of all staff receiving the last shot in the series for COVID vaccination by the end of October. Currently, we have 2 employees waiting for the second shot and both are scheduled in the next week. Beginning 1 Nov, we are only permitted to hire fully vaccinated individuals to join the team. Will have to see the impact on hiring as we have not been this strict in our hiring practices to date.
The following data is reported on the 13 Oct update. Active outbreaks have increased by another 4 to 25 active in the community with no new outbreaks in health facilities reported. Daily positives for through 13 Oct were 805 positives with the trend continuing upwards. The rolling average for positive results for individuals tested from 10/7-10/13 was 13.8%. Parkview Hospital hospitalizations related to COVID is currently 61 cases while St Mary Corwin has 10 COVID case in their care. Parkview reported occupancy at 189 while St Mary Corwin is reporting 53 for occupancy. This leaves 43 available beds between the hospitals. The county shared that vaccinated individuals have still shown a markedly decreased severity of illness and likelihood of hospitalization compared to the non-vaccinated.
Reviewing CDC COVID data for Pueblo County, case rate has increased 12% in the last week. Positivity has shown a minimal decrease (down 1.5%) with test rate increasing 25%. New hospitalizations stayed flat and beds in use remained increased 2% with ICU bed usage increasing 8%. Vaccinations for all county residents increased to 53.8% of residents with one does and 48.9% fully vaccinated.
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 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.
Sincerely,
Keith Jackson
Keith Jackson
Executive Director
