Dear Families, Program Participants, and Staff:
MARC Community Resources has recently had one staff person and one program participant test positive for COVID-19. All people who were directly exposed have been contacted and informed of such. Direct exposure is considered more than 15 minutes of contact within 6-feet of the positive person. All the people who fall in this category are in quarantine and have been tested – we are awaiting the results. The one individual was last in our building on July 17
th
, the staff person was last in on July 21
st
; both of whom exhibited no symptoms prior.
Anyone entering our property had to undergo a risk assessment and temperature check prior to entry. At no time was anyone symptomatic of COVID-19 in our building. We informed people of exposure within hours of learning of a positive test.
Though we believe further exposure is unlikely, we are erring on the side of caution. We are taking the following steps to protect people in our programs and our staff:
- We are hosting a mobile testing site on Wednesday, July 29th between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. We are requesting that ALL program participants and staff who have not yet been tested get tested at this event. If you were previously tested with a rapid test, we strongly encourage you to retest given the greater reliability of the test that will be used. Registration and release of information is attached below and can be downloaded from our website here. The release of information form is necessary so we are notified of the results so we can verify that staff and individuals can return to our building safely.
- We are closing programs in our building for the remainder of the week. We will reopen our doors on Monday, August 3, 2020. In order to return to program, you will have to have received negative test results. If you tested positive, you will need to wait until 10 days from the start of symptoms, at least 3 days symptom-free, and test negative.
- For the safety of everyone, we are no longer able to accommodate individuals who cannot wear a face mask. We do hope to be able to open the program to people who cannot tolerate a mask by September 1st, but we believe it is premature to do so at this juncture. We will of course provide ample opportunities for social distancing outdoors and fresh air without masks.
- Virtual services continue to be available daily for both virtual and day services. You can find links on our website or contact your MARC case manager for details.
- Groups will be limited to no more than 6 people, including the staff overseeing the group. Staff will not rotate from their assigned group.
- Individuals attending our program will be assigned to one area of the building only – either the DSO area or the GSE area. Blended services that normally have people rotating services during the week will discontinue until further notice. We’ll return to blended services as soon as it is safer to do so.
- People may attend part-time. For example, if you have a GSE authorization for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and a DSO authorization for Thursday and Friday, you can choose to attend only on GSE days or DSO days. You can request a meeting with your team for changes to your schedule.
- Program areas are constantly being sanitized. Vans are cleaned after each route with a fogging completed weekly.
- Our building has been professionally cleaned and sanitized.
- Refrigeration will be minimized to essential use only i.e. medication. Please send in a lunchbox with ice packs and food that does not need to be prepared (cold lunches only). This will minimize large numbers of people accessing the same equipment. Contact your case manager if this presents an issue for your family member.
- We are working closely with the City of Middletown Health Department for guidance.
It is important for us to return to program to ensure that necessary services and supports remain in place and progress is not lost. We are working tirelessly to provide a clean and safe environment. Though we cannot make guarantees that we will not face more COVID-19 cases, we can guarantee that we will inform anyone of exposure to someone who tests positive within hours of our knowledge, and that we are doing our best to screen and provide a safe environment.
Families – we believe transportation continues to present an unmanageable obstacle for us. If you can provide transportation, we strongly advise you to do so to limit the number of people in an enclosed space. We will continue to provide transportation to those that truly need it. We are deep cleaning vans after every route and people are entering and sitting back to front and exiting front to back. Masks are mandatory for transportation.
Thank you for your support through this very challenging time. We all look forward to the day we have a vaccination and a return to normalcy. Until then, we’ll work together to continue with life while being safe.
Warm regards,
Linda Iovanna
President & CEO
