Dear Family and Friends of the Home on Eighth,

I want to let you know that we have been notified of 1 new positive case of COVID-19 with a staff member here at the Home on Eighth. This staff member had no direct interaction with residents and was wearing appropriate personal protective equipment.

With this new positive case, we are considered to have an outbreak and will need to begin testing all staff and residents in Cityview and Heritage Rehabilitation weekly until testing identifies no new cases of COVID-19 infection among staff or residents for a period of at least 14 days since the most recent positive result.

Unfortunately our plan to begin indoor visitation will be put on hold. Once we are able to safely move forward with our plan, we will provide you with an updated timeline.

Per guidance, we will need to begin testing all staff as well as all residents in Cityview and Heritage Rehabilitation weekly until testing identifies no new cases of COVID-19 infection among staff or residents for a period of at least 14 days since the most recent positive test result.

Our priority is to keep everyone safe and healthy. We initiated aggressive proactive infection control measures and screening procedures, which we believe will help us manage this situation as effective as possible. We are working in collaboration with Olmsted County and the Minnesota Department of Health to ensure we are taking all appropriate steps. In addition, we are following all recommended guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to protect our residents and staff from this virus and will continue to take every action possible to prevent it from spreading in our setting.

We are thankful for your continued prayers and support as we take all precautions to combat this virus.

We pray you and yours are healthy and stay safe.

Please be assured the Samaritan Bethany team continues to rigorously follow all infection control guidance. Please reach out to us if you have further questions at 507-289-4031 and ask for Kyla Berg or Dee Erbe-Shea.

Visit our COVID19 Webpage at www.samaritanbethany.com/covid-19/ for the most recent communications and updates.