First Positive COVID-19 Employee Case (LHRC)

In accordance with requirements created by the New York State Department of Health, you are receiving this letter to notify you that we had an employee test positive for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Lutheran Home and Rehabilitation Center during our newly required employee testing protocol which began last week. This employee was asymptomatic on the day of testing as well as the day the results were reported… a scary reminder of just how silent this threat can be.

At the time of this writing, we do NOT have any COVID-19 positive residents.

Cases in Chautauqua County have gone up over the last week so we knew it was only a matter of time until it reached our walls. Our staff has been training for this and we will continue to take every precaution available to us to protect our residents and staff from the further spread of this infection. That being said, we have some important things we need you to keep in mind as we move forward.

First, we want you to know that all employees and LHRC residents who have been in contact with this person will be notified and checked for symptoms. We will be working closely with our county and state Department of Health to ensure we are meeting every precaution on the checklist. We will also be continuing our weekly testing of employees as required by New York State.

Second, while we understand the desire to know, we are prohibited from sharing specific names, medical history, or contact information of anyone impacted by COVID-19. Sharing this information would be a violation of our employee’s rights to privacy. We kindly ask that you not contact our staff to ask these questions or similar questions so they can focus their attention on caring for your loved ones.

Lastly, please refrain from sharing or spreading false information on social media regarding this case or others. We ask this so we can all work together to slow the spread of fear along with the virus itself.

We will continue to update you as new information is received and especially if any other individuals test positive for COVID-19 in our facility. As a reminder, we should all continue to wash our hands regularly and practice social distancing as much as possible. The weather will begin to tempt us now that the summer months have arrived. Please remain vigilant.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation during this challenging situation.

Sincerely,

Tom Holt
President and CEO