November 30, 2020 —COVID 19 Update
November 30, 2020
Despite no positive test results, we are required to continue full contact and droplet precautions for Taughannock House and suspension of visitation for the Health Center. We will let you know if we receive further guidance about this. We have not received any positive staff results.
Because of the risk presented by the start of the holiday season, Kendal at Ithaca moved to twice a week employee testing and we will continue this through early January to mitigate risk. We feel this is one of the best tools we have to identify and quickly remove staff who are positive and at risk to spread the virus in our community.
Tompkins County is seeing a large increase in new cases. See below for the trend of new cases by month in Tompkins County. Given this large spike, we will not be opening any of our dining venues for indoor dining. We do continue to offer take out in the Café.
As many of you know, a nearby nursing home, Oak Hill Manor, has a very serious outbreak with 3 deaths so far, and the infection of 39 residents and 13 staff. This is a reminder of how quickly the virus can spread in group settings. I encourage everyone to minimize their socializing and be very careful if you are going out into the community for shopping or socializing.
We are hopeful we will have early access to the vaccine and that it will be very soon. Until then, as the risk level continues to escalate, we need to be more vigilant than ever. As soon as we have details about vaccine distribution, we will share it.
Laurie Mante, Executive Director