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COVID-19 Update February/March 2021
Dear Residents, Family Members, and Employees,
As I am sure you have heard, the FDA completed their review of two of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccines (and a third one coming soon) and the process started to get people vaccinated in late December and will continue through March in Long Term Care facilities.
If you have not had a discussion about vaccination: residents/ family members please call the Administrator or Director of Nursing; employees should discuss with Human Resources or the Administrator.
We are fortunate that the Federal and State Government have recognized that Long Term Care has been disproportionately affected by this virus and they have targeted employees in health care and residents in Long Term Care as some of the first recipients of this vaccine.
Of course we don’t need to tell you how this virus has impacted us in our facility, the health care community as a whole, and our Country. It is estimated that 40-50% of COVID-19 related deaths are from Nursing Homes across the Country. There are several reason for this impact to Nursing Homes: residents have multiple co-morbidities that lead to a more detrimental outcome; and the congregate setting of residents, to name just a few.
For those reasons we join the Federal Government (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and our State’s Department of Public Health in recommending strongly that every resident, and every employee consent to this vaccine. Please review the authorization form for this vaccination and the CDC frequently asked questions:
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html
Most facilities around the County are reporting a 60% to 90% resident population vaccinated and our home certainly fits within those averages.
CMS has authorized Walgreens, CVS and some local hospitals as the distributors of this vaccine to Nursing Home residents and employees. We will be working primarily with these pharmacies for vaccinating our residents and employees.
If you have any questions or need any additional that I may be able to answer, please do not hesitate to contact me. Any medical questions regarding the vaccine or specifics to taking it, or not, please refer to your primary Physician.
Even with 100% vaccination rates CDC/ CMS/ Public Health Authorities have not changed precautions (Masking, distance, handwashing) nor any changes in visitation.