Dear Residents, Families and Loved Ones,
Since the March 25th “Stay At Home” mandate from the Governor’s Office, and with your help, we have not had any Covid-19 cases in our community. We have tried to balance safety and quality of life to include in-person visits in our outdoor visitation areas, meals in the Dining Room, essential healthcare appointments, fitness & social activities and we have stayed Covid-19 free for over five (5) months.
Unfortunately, this has ended as we have our 1st Covid-19 case with one (1) direct-contact associate who has tested positive for the virus today, Wednesday, August 26th. The associate is asymptomatic and was last at the community on Thursday, August 20th…has not been in the community for the past 6-days and is now in self-quarantine at their home. This associate does not work at another health care employer. At this time, no other associates or residents are showing any symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19.
As a precaution, all our associates are being tested for Covid-19 beginning today, Wednesday, August 26th and we will offer Covid-19 testing to all residents even though they may show no symptoms. The cost of the test will be borne by the community with no charges to the associates or residents.
The State of Hawaii Department of Health is aware of this development and we are working closely with them on the investigation. The associates who are asymptomatic can continue to work per the Center for Disease Control and Hawaii Department of Health guidance. All associates will continue to follow control precautions including wearing a face mask, hand washing, social distancing (when possible) and health screening.
During the Covid-19 testing period we need to request that all residents remain in their apartments until we receive the test results. Room service meals will be delivered to your apartments and activities will be limited.
As soon as we are confident that this case is resolved and no further cases emerge we will give you an update on allowed activities and continuing restrictions. In the meantime, it is imperative that all residents wear their masks when out of their apartments, that social distancing is practiced consistently, and that handwashing and hand-sanitizing is done frequently through-out the day.
This is a sobering reminder that COVID has not gone away in our greater community and that the risk of contracting COVID is still very real. This is not the time for complacency.
Thank you again for working with us to keep all of us as safe as possible. As always, please feel free to contact Valerie Rickard or me for any questions.
Sincerely,
Mark T. Tsuda
Executive Director