New guidance was recently released for long term care facilities. This new guidance requires testing of unboosted employees at a frequency determined by the healthcare transmission rate. At this time, we are testing all vaccinated but unboosted staff twice weekly. This new guidance does not impact our residents. As a reminder, all staff working in long term care facilities are required to be vaccinated. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after completion of a two-dose mRNA series or one dose of a Janssen vaccine. We continue to encourage members of our care team and our residents to take the booster when they are eligible.
Additionally, late yesterday we became aware of a contracted employee that developed symptoms during their shift. The employee followed the correct protocol, by leaving the facility, contacting our employee health department and subsequently testing for COVID-19. The test returned positive for COVID-19. Through contact tracing, we were able to identify select patients and staff that had been in contact with the positive employee. These patients were tested yesterday, and those tests have returned negative. We will be completing another round of testing on Monday, 3/28/22 and have been in consultation with the CDC. We will continue to monitor all residents for signs/symptoms of COVID-19. As we know more, we will continue to post updates here.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
