As we enter into this holiday season in the midst of a COVID surge throughout our country, we wanted to send out a letter discussing how we are approaching the holidays in our Community. We understand the desire to be with your loved ones during the holiday, but unfortunately, this year we are faced with unique circumstances posed by COVID. The vulnerability and risk posed to our residents is something we have to consider…
We need your help! Our county remains in the Moderate phase which means visitation is still limited as the county’s COVID numbers are still too high. We need all residents, families and friends to please adhere to our visitation rules as they are in place for the safety of all…
Some of you may be aware that Arizona is beginning to move forward to “reopen” our senior facilities to visitation, and our family members and residents understandably want to know when visitation will start and how it will occur. Given the continuing threat of the virus to our vulnerable residents, any reopening of a community to indoor visitation will depend on a variety of factors…
As many of you are probably aware now, the virus progression seems to be unique to each individual with some with little to no symptoms, others have a longer recovery and still others needing a higher level of care. Our numbers of recovering, positives and negatives fluctuate on a regular basis, but we stay in contact with our families/POAs about any health or behavioral changes of residents, including the progress of those that were found to be positive for the virus.
As you are aware from our past communications, our Community has been impacted by the significant surge in positive COVID-19 cases in Maricopa County. We have decided independently to ensure testing of our employees and residents. To date, about a 1/3 of our current staff and over 2/3 of our residents have been tested. Any staff that have tested positive are placed off duty, and we monitor them for eventual return-to-duty as per CDC and local health department guidelines. The majority of residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 are either asymptomatic, have fully recovered or are currently recovering from the virus. We have a few residents that have health issues that require a higher level of care that are currently being served outside of the Community, but we continue to monitor their recovery for eventual return to the Community. We remain in close contact with our local health department and the state assisted living regulatory officials, and we are implementing their guidance. Our staff continue their diligent care to our residents, and we continue our efforts to mitigate and prevent viral spread.
As promised, we wanted to provide you another update. As stated in our previous letter, we continually monitor residents for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and assess employees for signs and symptoms or exposure to the virus. We also stated that when we had first notice of the recent positive employees and residents, we were having some additional residents tested for the virus. We were informed that out of the 8 residents that were tested, 5 have come back as positive for COVID-19. We have five other residents who were tested over the weekend or will be tested in the next day or two and will be isolated pending testing and the receipt of results. Of the 9 now positive individuals, 4 have been sent out of the Community for treatment and the rest remain in the facility under isolation.
I am sure many of you are aware of the significant increase in positive cases in Arizona. In our previous communication, we made you aware of a newly positive employee. We now have a second staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19. We also now have two residents who has tested positive for COVID-19. We have identified several residents that are currently being isolated from other residents who have shown symptoms, have been tested and waiting on results to return.
At Rose Court Assisted Living and Memory Care, we’re committed to keeping you up-to-date and informed, especially during the turbulent times caused by COVID-19. Since our last communication, we have had no new residents test positive for COVID-19.
We are very thankful that we continue to have no new COVID positive cases for residents or staff. In Arizona there has been a 20% increase in the amount of people testing positive over the last week alone. We have to remain diligent in our preventative measures to ensure the safety of all of our residents.
We appreciate your cooperation and support during these unprecedented times. As we have expressed in all of our updates to you, we will follow the lead of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and state/local health department guidelines.