July 28, 2020

Dear Residents and Families,

The purpose of this letter is to communicate updates regarding our covid-19 reporting and the actions we continue to take to combat and protect our community.  

We completed our fifth round of testing on Tuesday, July 21, and all results have been obtained. 

The results revealed:

            Residents:       All Negative

            Staff:               All Negative

This is the third testing cycle that results showed no new cases of Covid.

We are currently finishing up our sixth round of testing today for staff only.

As of this week, we will not be testing residents weekly.

We will test any resident within 24 hours of showing signs/symptoms related to Covid.

The Department of Health outlined a 3-Step process outlining prerequisites that must be met before easing of current restrictions can be considered. In summary, our facility must first show 14 consecutive days without a new Covid case before we can proceed through the 3-Step process. The facility has met this prerequisite, as of Saturday, July 11, and we can now proceed through the 3-step process that will allow us to ease current restrictions.

We are working through the 3-Step process and as soon as we have a written plan to address the prerequisites, what current restrictions will be adjusted, and how those adjustments will be managed/orchestrated, we will share that with you.

I want to say that we are moving cautiously, in regard to our easing of restrictions, due to the daily and weekly increases in positive Covid cases not only within the Commonwealth but across our country. 

As we solidify our plans, please know, visitation will be limited and restrictive compared to what we enjoyed prior to the pandemic. However, I believe any opportunity is a welcomed relief and we are working towards this goal. 

Earlier this month Governor Tom Wolf requested that any resident of the Commonwealth who travels to any of the states, listed below, self-quarantine for 14 days upon return to the Commonwealth. Most recently 4 additional states were added to the list. These 19 states are currently experiencing a surge in Covid.

These states are:

Alabama                                        North & South Carolina

Arkansas                                       Tennessee 

Arizona                                          Texas

California                                       Utah

Florida                                           Georgia

Idaho                                              Louisiana

Mississippi                                     Nevada

Iowa                (New)                     Kansas           (NEW)

Missouri         (New)                      Wyoming        (New)

As of 7/28, since the start of this pandemic, 

• we have had a total of 30 residents test positive with Covid-19. This is an increase of 0 since our last update.
  

• We also had 8 employees who had tested positive since this pandemic started. All staff have resolved.
  

Of the 30 residents:

 

·         20 Residents recovered. This is an increase of 0 since our last update.

·         0 Residents currently in-house with positive Covid results. Our last Covid positive resident was taken off precautions on 7/8. 

·         10 Residents expired and who had tested positive for Covid. This is an increase of 0 since our last update.

We have and will continue to test our residents, who show any signs/symptoms. We believe this is in the best interest of our community. While our test results have come back negative, we are still very vigilant in our focus to protect and maintain the mitigation that we have achieved.    

In early April, we decided to implement isolation precautions on most all new on-set symptoms, and we will continue to do so. We believe we are still in a time when we cannot be too overly cautious in protecting our community. Resident and staff safety are our top priority.

We continue to exceed our staff levels throughout the facility to meet the needs of our community.

You can be proud of the staff at Hanover Hall and be assured that all our staff continue to report to work and perform with excellence. 

I know this continues to be a difficult time for everyone. We will continue to update you, as quickly as possible, with any updates and/or changes to our current situation.

Please know we continue to strictly adhere to all directives from the local and state health departments as well as the CDC.

We appreciate your continued prayers and trust in the care and services we provide and for your understanding and support of any necessary adjustments as this situation evolves.

Please feel free to contact me at 717-633-4520 with any questions or concerns. 

May God bless us all.

Respectfully,

Daniel Pyle, NHA

Administrator, Hanover Hall