January 7, 2022
Dear Residents and Family Members,
Today is January 7, 2022, and unfortunately, we have more employees who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Last evening after our letter went out one of our Assisted Living caregivers tested positive. This employee last worked December 28, 2021 and is fortunately asymptomatic. In addition, last evening one of our Goldberg Healthcare Center nurses tested positive. This employee’s last day on campus was December 31, 2021 and is unfortunately symptomatic. And very early this morning another Goldberg Healthcare Center LVN tested positive. This employee was last on campus this morning January 7, 2022 and is also symptomatic and now home recuperating. And lastly, today we learned that a Seacrest at Home caregiver tested positive for COVID-19. This employee’s last day of work was December 28, 2021 and is unfortunately experiencing symptoms. We have and will continue to do contact tracing. In addition, we have notified all mandated regulatory agencies. And lastly, we continue to follow CDC guidelines for employees returning to work.
I want to again share our testing protocol as, especially after yesterday, I understand many are wondering how positive cases are detected.
- All direct care staff are tested before each shift begins. In some cases, this is how we detect that they are positive for the COVID-19 virus.
- If an employee is not a direct caregiver and is therefore not tested immediately upon arrival, we test if symptoms appear
- If during contact tracing we learn that someone is exposed, we test at that time, and this is another way we may find a positive result.
- Sometimes we learn of positive cases via routine testing—PCR tests and also employees getting tested at other job sites
Additionally, often employees call us to say they are ill; we then tell them to come to the campus for a test. In this case we may find they are positive although they are not even scheduled to work. I hope this provides clarification. Please understand that due to HIPAA, as well as employee confidentiality, we give as much information as we can while honoring our staff and resident’s privacy.
We will continue to share information in as much detail as possible so that you are fully informed. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any member of our management team. We are all here and readily available.
We will get through this together.
With much gratitude,
Pam Ferris
President and CEO
The Melvin Garb Foundation Presidential Chair