4-19-2021
Dear Families,
This communication comes to you this morning with a continued sense of frustration and obvious concern.
As all of you are aware, Pickering Manor has strived to protect those you love throughout this past year. We have abided by the Infection Control mandates that have been provided us and of which we are mandated to follow. We have been testing regularly all staff and residents throughout this past year based on the County Positivity Rates and we have been fortunate to offer three Vaccine Clinics to our residents and staff. We are pleased to report that 99.9% of our residents have been vaccinated and 75% of our staff; which is quite higher than the reports recently released from other facilities.
We have worked hard and continue to do so. We have had no positive resident cases and only 14 staff cases over the last year which is remarkable in terms of comparison.
Unfortunately, just as we were re-opening to all of you and relaxing our visitation restrictions, we have had 3 positive cases in the past 3 weeks. 2 of these cases were staff; and we have most recently had our first positive resident case. Of the 3 cases, 2 were fully vaccinated; 1 staff and the 1 resident, and only 1 was an unvaccinated staff member. We can assure you that the positive resident was not a result of a positive staff member since there have been no positive staff results with the last 2 rounds of testing.
Each positive result is considered an ‘Outbreak’; whether it is 1 case or multiple cases. With each one, it moves the period of quarantine and visitation restrictions out further. I’m sure you can understand the reasons for caution but like us, will continue to be frustrated that after a year, we continue to be responding to this Pandemic that has kept us all separated.
With that being said, we are now on Lockdown until 4/29. We pray that we will not need to extend it further. The County Positivity Rate remains above 10% which requires us to test twice weekly. We continue to encourage all who have not been vaccinated to become vaccinated for the benefit of their families and their communities.
As always, thank you for your support and encouragement throughout the past year. We recognize the disappointment and we share it together.
Be safe and take care,
Michelle
Michelle Knobloch, NHA
Chief Executive Officer
Terry
Terry Ziegler, RN
Director of Nursing
