Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that staff in nursing homes should be tested for coronavirus on a weekly basis to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and that is what Beatitudes Campus has been doing the past month. Over 1,700 PCR tests have been administered to the campus staff. The staff in the health care Center, along with Transportation and Security, are tested weekly and the remaining staff is tested every two weeks. And, it appears that testing is working. In the last round of tests – Thursday, July 30 to 324 campus staff and Tuesday, August 4 to 209 staff working in the Health Care Center — we have experienced only one positive test, which we learned about on Wednesday. This individual works in Dining and is now in quarantine at home. That's a .19 percent positivity rate from that testing! Overall, Beatitudes Campus has a 5% positivity rate, with Maricopa County having a 16% positivity rate. I want to extend my thanks to the entire Beatitudes community to wearing masks, keeping social distance and washing hands. All of it is working to slow down the spread of coronavirus.
Also, related to testing, we are anticipating receiving the rapid, point-of-care coronavirus testing machine soon. We had hoped that we may be able to use if for some of the mass testing, but, it turns out that each individual test takes approximately 20 minutes to process, so realistically, it will not work for mass testing, but, its best use will be for a resident/staff showing symptoms, and we can test them immediately and take appropriate actions. We will know more when the device arrives.
Beatitudes Campus is continuing to test staff and residents. All residents in the Sierra Springs (3rd floor) and Vermilion Cliffs (4th floor) neighborhoods will be re-tested for COVID-19 today, August 7. The next all-staff testing at the campus is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11 in the life Center. All residents who live in plaza view Assisted Living will be tested next Wednesday, August 12 for COVID-19 with the PCR (nasal swab), and the staff will be given the serology (antibody) test, which will be followed by the PCR (nasal swab) test 7-14 days later.
Today, at the campus, we have 10 individuals with active COVID-19 – five staff and five residents. Since the pandemic began, 99 people (39 residents, 60 staff and two contracted health care workers) at Beatitudes Campus have tested positive for COVID-19, and 78 have recovered (23 residents and 55 staff).
Beatitudes Campus learned yesterday that we were awarded a $10,000 grant to purchase technology to enhance and expand virtual visits for our skilled nursing area. This grant is part of Gov. Doug Ducey's “Arizona Stay Connected” program for skilled nursing facilities. We are very grateful to have these funds available to help our residents more easily connect virtually with their friends and family.
As we mentioned previously, we are beginning to reopen parts of the campus for independent living in a strategic, phased-in approach. On Monday, August 10, we will be offering limited fitness classes in the Life Center. We plan to open the campus salons on Monday, August 17. This will be a long-awaited opening for many of our independent living residents. Strict scheduling, along with masks and social distancing will be in effect. More information on how to participate in both of these are listed in this article.
Thank you for your confidence in Beatitudes Campus. We continue to keep the health and safety of our residents as our top priority. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
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