12/29/2021

Dear Extended Cobble Hill LifeCare Family,

Today we received notice of 4 additional staff members and 1 additional resident who tested positive for Covid 19. As always, the staff member was taken off schedule and is recuperating at home. The resident is currently in the hospital for unrelated reasons.

I could well imagine these daily Covid updates are unnerving to receive. They could understandably cause fear and concern. I apologize for that. We send these messages in the spirit of candor and transparency. The reality is that just as the broader community is seeing a significant spike in cases, so are we and every other place of congregate living. That includes hospitals, nursing homes and even universities.

The really great news, is that those who are getting Covid are overwhelmingly only lightly ill. Even amongst our resident population. They are getting cold like symptoms that are only lasting a few days. Many are completely asymptomatic. While we would prefer that no one got sick, we are super encouraged by this. We fervently hope that this trend will continue and even improve further.

As we all know, the Omicron strain is the most contagious we’ve seen. I’m grateful to my staff for being so vigilant with infection control procedures. Working a whole day in N95s, face shields and in many instances, gowns, is quite difficult. They are truly champions.

Given the contagiousness of this strain, we are also encouraging as much virtual visitation as possible. We know for sure that some visitors have tested positive right after visiting which in turn caused their loves ones to be exposed and test positive.

If you choose to continue visiting your loved one in person, we will now require you to take a rapid COVID test on-site when you arrive. Please be patient as this takes time and we are working hard with fewer staff.

Please also know that visiting in person will also place you at risk. You will likely be exposed during your visit.

If you have any specific questions or concerns about this, I encourage you to reach out to us via the COVID hotline at (718) 247-1153 or email us at covid19@cobblehill.org.

Thank you,

Donny Tuchman
CEO