We encourage and recommend booster shots as a primary way to become up-to-date in safeguarding against COVID-19 and its variants. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the inclusion of a booster shot is now necessary for someone to be classified as fully vaccinated. The visitation requirements from CMS have replaced “vaccinated” with “up-to-date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses” and deleted “unvaccinated.” Learn about vaccines near you and read more on the CDC’s fact sheet.
As of March 17, 2022, 94.9% of our residents have been fully vaccinated and 97% have received booster shots. Our staff is 100% vaccinated and 79% of those eligible have received a booster. Overall, our facility staff and residents are 98.2% fully vaccinated and 85.1% of those eligible have received a booster. Please note that these numbers fluctuate weekly with newly admitted and discharged residents as well as new and separated staff.
For information about vaccination rates at nursing homes, please refer to CMS’s Care Compare site.
Currently, masking requirements are still in place for all healthcare settings. Throughout the pandemic, the responsibility has been on long-term care administrators to devise infection control protocol for visitors, vendors and others entering their facilities from the public sphere to mitigate health risks to our residents.
We are monitoring the latest news from the CDC, Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and CMS, as well as the latest COVID-19 infection control guidance with relation to its impact on our residents and visitors. The BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant now makes up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections nationwide, the CDC estimated this week, up from around 1 in 10 new cases just a week prior. The increase of BA.2’s proportion in the U.S. comes as the CDC has continued to track a nationwide slowdown in pace of new COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases.
Our Facility’s Resident Impact (since the federal government issued reporting requirements on May 8, 2020, through March 17, 2022):
| Number of cases | |
| 0 | ADMISSIONS: Residents admitted or readmitted who were previously hospitalized and treated for COVID-19 |
| 105 | CONFIRMED: Residents with new laboratory positive COVID-19 |
| 0 | SUSPECTED: Residents with new suspected COVID-19 |
Please see our Facebook page for photos of some of the fun we have had during March madness. Though we are nearing the end of it, our Life Enrichment department always has more fun and stimulating activities in store for our residents!
As always, our priority is the protection of our residents, staff and families at our facility. We appreciate that you entrust us with the care of your loved ones and thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you have any questions, we are always available for you.
We hope you are enjoying the warm up and first signs of spring and pray for health and happiness for your all.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Mary Rose Applegate, NHA
