The United States continues to lead the world in confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19. This week, we reached a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, with over 7 million (7,005,746 is the actual figure) confirmed COVID-19 cases and 203,240 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, Arizona ranks #5 in cases per 100,000 population (2,940 cases per 100,000 individuals) and #9 in deaths per 100,000 population (75 deaths per 100,000 individuals). As a country, we must be ever vigilant as we head into the fall season. Many infectious disease experts are warning of a potential surge of coronavirus cases as we enter a season of cooler weather and warn of a long-feared “second wave” of infections unless we continue to practice the public health protocols of masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.
I know we are all tired of reading statistics and pouring through endless data, but it’s the data that guide us in our decisions. At Beatitudes Campus, we must remain vigilant in monitoring the community transmission of the virus and the trends. All of our decisions for expanding visitations, off-campus visits and openings within the campus are made in stages and with scientific data at hand. In the last two weeks, we were able to allow outdoor visitation in our licensed areas. However, with a resident testing positive this week and a staff member testing positive, we are suspending visitation in the Piper Early Memory Support neighborhood for the near future.
We are allowing limited visitations from family for our Independent Living residents. You can view the visitor guidelines on our website (https://beatitudescampus.org/beatitudes-family/ and click on “Visitor Guidelines”). Please note all required forms for visitation are located there, too. This week, we have been able to expand off-campus outings for Independent Living residents to include visits to family and friends in gatherings of 10 people or less.
I want to thank all the residents, families and staff who have followed the public health guidance that we all know – wear your mask, keep physically distant and wash your hands. It is because of your adherence to these important guidelines that we are able to ease some of our restrictions, so please keep that up. These measures, along with testing, are the best tools we have right now to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, September 22, we conducted another COVID-19 testing of our employees and all 338 results are negative. Because of previous week’s staff testing, with one positive result of a caregiver who worked in Early Memory Support, we re-tested all Piper Early Memory Support residents. A resident from that neighborhood tested positive and remains asymptomatic. The individual remains in isolation in the room right now and will be transferred to our COVID-19 unit in the Agelink building as soon as possible to complete the quarantine period. You can view the data from the campus in the dashboard at the end of this letter. I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the life of an icon in American history – Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg spent her life in pursuit of an equal world. She fought for those who had no voice and was a fearless trailblazer and advocate for equality of all people and was a pioneering champion of women’s rights. Justice Ginsburg has said that a meaningful life means living for one’s family and one’s community, not for oneself. By those standards, she certainly lived a profoundly meaningful life and the ways she changed our lives will never be forgotten. America is a better place because of her service. She fought for the best version of ourselves. She hoisted the ambitions of millions of American women. I know that I wouldn’t be President and CEO of Beatitudes Campus were it not for Justice Ginsburg and her crusade for freedom and equality. I’m inspired by her life and legacy. It is now up to all of us to continue her fight and working together toward true equality.
