Dear Residents, Families and Employees:

The COVID transmission rate in Pennsylvania is 25+%. For Bucks County, the transmission rate remains high and the 7-day metric for positivity as of today is 15.99%. Yesterday I was on a call hosted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) in which members of the CDC presented. It was stated that nationwide the number of COVID-19 cases has increased 95% within the last week, which is staggering.  They also stated that the prominent variant is Omicron.

Since my last communication to you on January 4th, we have had 3 more positive cases, 1 employee and 2 IL residents as of today. We will continue with these modified operations until the community has gone 14 days without a new case

On January 5, 2022, the CDC, CMS, and the PA Department of Health issued new guidelines for health care personnel (HCP) with respect to a staff person who has been exposed and their booster status. We do consider all of our employees as health care personnel. We have already implemented those changes. If you are interested in learning more about the guidance, you may go to the CDC website for Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 | CDC. We were also advised that CMS will soon be communicating additional information for visiting.

As soon as we receive it, I will send a notification.

The other piece of important information that CMS shared is that the guidelines that the CDC issued in late December regarding isolation guidelines for the general population DOES NOT APPLY TO OUR VISITORS. This means if you wish to visit, you must follow the same criteria that we must follow.                                            Our requirement is isolation for 10 days with day 0 being the first day of symptoms or the date of the day of the positive viral test for asymptomatic persons.

At this time, for the entire community, we are limiting visitors to 2 per resident in their apartments at any given time. This is new for Personal Care and Independent Living. However, it is what the Health Center has been following. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reserve any space for large groups to visit.

However, I strongly encourage you to consider speaking to your loved one on the telephone or doing a video visit with them based on the type of device you both have.

We need everyone to do their part to reduce the spread and remain diligent. The following guidelines are still in effect:

• Visitors who have a positive COVID-19 test, symptoms of COVID-19 or currently meet the criteria for quarantine (exposed, potentially positive) should not enter the community, and have isolated for 10 days (day 0 is the first day of symptoms or the date of the day of the positive viral test for asymptomatic persons).
• Hand hygiene is required, Face mask covering the mouth and nose is required.
• Six feet distance between people is required.
• All visitors are strongly encouraged to have their COVID-19 vaccination and booster or to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and continue with the booster according to the CDC guidelines.
• Room visits are permitted, IF both roommates are vaccinated and neither resident is immunocompromised (regardless of vaccination).

If you do not have your mask on, or worn properly, we will kindly remind you.

I truly appreciate your understanding and patience. Our team is dedicated to you and are true heroes! For any questions, you may contact me at ldukert@wesleyenhancedliving.org or 267-895-1132.

Internally, my extension is 502.

Respectfully,

Lynne Dukert

Executive Director