Update from Administrator – October 31, 2020
October 31, 2020
Dear Resident, Family Member or Responsible Party,
As always, our team and I hope this email finds you safe and healthy. As you may have seen in the news lately, Connecticut, as well as other states across the country is experiencing an uptick in positive COVID cases throughout many communities. With that in mind, CT DPH has ordered weekly testing of all staff to further safeguard against COVID entering our center. We are reminding our staff to not only practice safeguards against COVID in our center, but to be vigilant outside of our center and share these practices with their friends and loved ones.
“COVID Fatigue” is the new thing we hear about on the news: people are tired of wearing their mask and being vigilant in their hand washing and social distancing. This is leading to an uptick in COVID cases. These are simple things we must continue to do, not just in our centers, but in our personal lives to keep COVID out! Please wear your mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance.
We continue testing our staff and residents at regular intervals as required by CMS, CDC and DPH. Thankfully, none of our residents have tested positive. We currently have one staff member who tested positive for the virus the week before last and one staff member tested positive in this last round of weekly testing. This unfortunately sets us back to being able to provide indoor visits at this time. The regulations are that there can be no positive test results from either residents or staff for two consecutive weeks.
We mentioned in our last email, that we will be asking for proof of a negative COVID test result from everyone within 72 hours prior to indoor visits. We are aware that this might be difficult for many and could cause logistical issues. We ask that you please take into consideration the higher risk it presents to our residents for the potential of an outbreak when an asymptomatic COVID positive visitor could have been prevented from entering the building and spreading the virus to their loved one and then to yours. Please keep in mind that the purpose of the guidelines are to protect our residents and keep them safe, which is always our number one priority. In the meantime, we do offer iPads for our residents to use for video visits, phone calls, etc. so you and your loved ones remain in contact, as best as you can during these very uncertain times.
In other news…
Bayview has had a lot of fun and festive activities during October. Every Friday, the staff can dress down and this month we were asked to also wear pink with our jeans to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness. The other day for Halloween, many of the staff dressed up with the theme “keep the magic alive” and had a parade for the residents. Our recreation team has “Wacky Wednesdays” when they dress up with different themes and visit the residents to provide treats and entertainment. Please check out and like our Facebook page for photos of the events. Even though this pandemic has caused many restrictions, we are making sure that our residents are still entertained and have fun!
As always, thank you for your patience and please stay safe and healthy.
~ From all of us at Bayview Health Care