October 19, 2020 —
PLEASE SEE THE CORRECTION BELOW
Today we received two new positive diagnoses of staff. Both of these staff have been out of work for five days since they first exhibited symptoms, and both are at home and feeling better. We’ve received over 150 test results for staff in the last 24 hours so we are thankful there were no asymptomatic positives.
We’ve also been receiving resident test results and have no new positives to report. Without any positive-testing residents, the Owasco neighborhood no longer requires area-wide contact and droplet precautions. However the Cayuga neighborhood remains on full precautions with all staff using full PPE.
After consulting with Tompkins County Health Department, the State Department of Health and Kendal at Ithaca’s Medical Director, we have not been advised to do anything additional at this time.
We continue with an aggressive containment strategy:
- Twice a week testing of all health center residents and all Kendal at Ithaca staff to identify asymptomatic cases quickly.
- Immediate isolation/quarantine and testing of any residents or staff who display symptoms.
- Complete closure of the campus to gatherings, activities, visitors and nonessential contractors or services.
- No communal dining or activities in the health center.
- Continued training and auditing on appropriate use of PPE among staff.
We’ve also reviewed our practices on break rooms and further reduced density in these areas, as this has been identified as a risk area for spread by the State Dept. of Health Epidemiologist.
This week we are also implementing some new testing strategies in collaboration with Cayuga Medical Center that will help expedite the receipt of test results. We are also moving to saliva tests that will require less Kendal nursing time devoted to COVID testing. The saliva tests have the same sensitivity and accuracy as the nasal swabs. We will continue to have nasal swabs available for residents or staff who cannot provide a saliva sample.
We recognize that Tompkins County cases are increasing, with 14 new cases on Friday and eight yesterday. There are currently 5 people hospitalized – we have not seen that many hospitalized patients in the county since May. There are 57 active cases in the community,
which is an all-time high. This is not an all-time high. We apologize for the error.
Please refer to the Tompkins County Health Department’s historic information at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQvvugFsb4GePXQnmEZbgrtqmJRiaA7tO1UGSBwvBdhbJEmf2ntzE0am-x-Lo6mLPj9ASLpAg6UZsCF/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true
We urge everyone to please practice vigilance as we seem to be seeing a surge in cases all around us.
-Laurie Mante
Executive Director