Dear Residents, Families, and Associates of Byron Park,
This letter is to update you on the status of our community. A few days ago, we shared that one of our independent living resident pools had come back positive from the January 12th, 2021 testing date. We have identified one resident who is positive in this group. All other residents and associates are negative for COVID19. This resident is sheltering in their apartment and is in stable condition.
As of today, our community has achieved a 91% acceptance rate of vaccination for COVID19 from our initial clinic on January 6th, 2021. Our second clinic will be hosted on Wednesday January 27th, 2021. Due to a recent change with the availability of vaccines for John Muir and the greater Contra Costa County area, those that had been ineligible or opted out are not able to receive a vaccine during the upcoming John Muir Clinic as previously reported. We are continuing to move forward with our partnership with CVS to host another vaccine clinic to accommodate those that were not part of our January 6th series. More information will be provided after our initial training with CVS on Friday and a follow up meeting with the County. We are focused on expediting this next clinic as our top priority remains supporting the health and safety of those that live and work at Byron Park.
The positivity rate in Contra Costa County is now at 11% over the last 7 days. As a reminder, we are strongly discouraging non-essential outings and gatherings of households as this is in alignment with our current regional and state stay home order that went into effect on Sunday December 6th, 2020. We are also highly encouraging all visitors and family members to participate in our COVID19 testing before visiting or picking up their loved ones. To support this initiative as well as fulfill our commitment of timely communication and results, we have moved to a new lab partner, Sensiva. Sensiva can support a 24-hour turnaround time for individual PCR saliva testing making this the safest way to visit our community.
As a reminder we conduct twice a week (Monday and Thursday) ongoing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which requires the collection of a small amount of saliva that we send to our laboratory partners. While our frequency of testing remains unchanged, we will be adjusting our testing strategy beginning next week.
We will now complete a round of individual tests every Monday and a round of pooled saliva testing every Thursday. This will include all residents, associates, and essential providers. We know that early detection through our testing programs, vaccination along with physical distancing, proper mask use, hand hygiene, and ongoing health monitoring, we can provide an excellent line of defense in the fight against Covid-19.
Our first Townhall of the New Year was hosted today. Thank you to everyone who participated and shared feedback. As a reminder Townhall meetings are hosted the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 2pm in the main dining room. A few housekeeping items that were discussed along with the information noted above are listed below:
- Room Service Eco Containers- Eco Containers can be left outside of your apartment beginning at 8:00pm for collection.
- Waste and Recycling centers are located on each floor and daily trash pick up is offered only when a resident is in quarantine or it is included in their care plan.
- The package room was not a successful alternative to package delivery. We are still encouraging residents to come to the front desk to retrieve their packages but if they are unable to or the packages are too large, we can deliver packages at 12:00pm and 3:00pm daily. Packages delivered after this window may be delivered to your apartment the following day.
- Elevator etiquette has been discussed at former townhall meetings, we would like to remind everyone to observe the signage and limit occupants in elevators as noted.
- We are seeing a higher demand for socially distant visits by the fire and in the living room, we will be adjusting the furniture in the main living room to support a safe space for friends to mingle. We will also be reconfiguring the private dining room as well. We do want to remind everyone that your mask must cover your mouth and nose while in common areas.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out. We thank you for your trust and partnership.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Pastora
Executive Director