Good Afternoon –

Prairie View:

During surveillance testing yesterday, an employee at PV tested positive with no symptoms. We are waiting on a confirmatory PCR while the employee is in quarantine at home. After thorough contact tracing was completed, it was determined that no residents had high risk exposure. The contact tracing results support not initiating wide spread testing. Due to not having the need for wide spread testing, PV will not need to postpone visitation. Visitation will continue as normal. Surveillance testing will continue.

COVID-19 Guidance: Long-term Care Indoor Visitation for Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living-type Settings (state.mn.us)

RenVilla and Meadows:

No new positives. Surveillance testing will continue. No change.

Other Covid Information:

According to MDH, the latest weekly report shows 405 schools in Minnesota have reported COVID outbreaks so far. That data from the state Department of Health shows school outbreaks have more than quadrupled in the past few weeks. Over half of the schools that have experienced more than five coronavirus cases are in greater Minnesota. Health officials continue to encourage mask-wearing, hand sanitizing, and vaccinations for eligible people in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Over 400 MN Schools Have Reported COVID Outbreaks | News | willmarradio.com

The county transmission levels can be found at the link below. In addition to this information, you can find Renville County’s 7-day Metrics including:

• Cases: 65
• % Positivity: (15.75%; up from 12.65% last week)
• Deaths: (0)
• % Eligible Population Fully Vaccinated: (55.4%; up from 55.1% last week)
• New Hospital Admissions: (1)

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Good Afternoon –

I am thankful to say that we have no new updates/changes this week. No new positives. We are seeing more instances of high risk exposure outside of the facility, we but continue to monitor those closely.

The county transmission levels can be found at the link below. In addition to this information, you can find Renville County’s 7-day Metrics including:

• Cases: 65; this is up from 38 last week
• % Positivity (12.65%)
• Deaths (0)
• % Eligible Population Fully Vaccinated (55.1%).

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Good Afternoon –

I am pleased to share that PV test results from Tuesday’s testing (all staff and residents) have returned negative. This means that PV is no longer in outbreak/PPT testing. Now, they will be in surveillance testing the same as MOM and RenVilla. MOM and RenVilla’s surveillance tests also all returned negative this week with no changes.

Surveillance testing is testing unvaccinated staff at a frequency level that is directed by the county transmission rate. In addition, RHS continues to test all staff and residents who display a Covid symptom or have had high risk exposure. Currently, we are testing unvaccinated staff twice a week due to Renville County’s high transmission level. The county transmission levels can be found at the link below. In addition to this information, you can find Renville County’s 7-day Metrics including Cases (38), % Positivity (11.09%), Deaths (<10), % Eligible Population Fully Vaccinated (54.87%).

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view

This is a slight change in practice that is based on updated CMS guidance that came out this month. Before, we were using county positivity rates to determine testing frequency as previously directed. However, this is also high, so we would be testing unvaccinated staff twice a week regardless of what data we were directed to follow.

Residents really enjoy having visitors, and we encourage friends and family to come spend time with their loved ones. There are practices that we are required by CMS and MDH to follow. Also, we want to be sure we are doing our best to keep residents as safe as we can from transmission. Please be sure to screen at the door, wear a mask, wash your hands/use hand sanitizer, and limit your visits only to the resident’s room or apartment. Please do not congregate in public areas.

Thank you for all of your continued efforts with this. I understand that this has been difficult, and we are all anxious for the day that things will be more back to normal, but please be gracious with our staff. The staffing shortage that the state and country is experiencing has effected everyone in the healthcare sector. Let’s be sure to appreciate the excellent staff that we have, and if we can make their lives a little easier by keeping our masks above our noses in the building, then I think we should do that.

If you know someone who works in healthcare, I urge you to send him/her a text, letter, or voicemail expressing the appreciation you have for their work. There isn’t one person in this field that hasn’t been having a difficult time. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Administrator, LNHA, LALD

Renville Health Services

Phone: (320) 329-4373

Fax: (320) 329-3678

Good Afternoon –

I would like to provide a Covid update for all buildings, and I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend. Just a quick reminder for RenVilla, MOM, and PV, that all visitors must wear a mask at all times in the building, wash hands/use hand sanitizer, and be screened by a staff member at the door before entering. If you have had exposure to a positive case, please to not visit for at least 14 days. If you have a temperature or any other Covid-19 symptom, please do not come into the building. Please continue to reduce your visits to your loved one’s room or apartment only. Please do not congregate in common areas in the building. Thank you.

Today, we again tested all PV residents and tenants with rapid antigen tests. All tests are negative. Visitation continues to be open as usual. As a reminder from yesterday’s announcement, Tuesday’s PCR tests were all negative as well. We will be testing again on 9/21 with PRC testing.

RenVilla and MOM continue to test symptomatic residents and staff. In addition, all unvaccinated staff are tested weekly (this will be moving to 2x/week due to county transmission rate) and there continues to be no new positives. Visitation remains open as usual.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Casie Knoshal

Good Afternoon –

PV completed their 1^st round of outbreak testing this week, and we are waiting one 1 result to return yet. All others have returned negative. Once the last result returns, we will be able to make a decision about reopening visitation. The next (and hopefully last round) of all staff/resident outbreak testing will be next week.

There have been no new positives at RenVilla or MOM. Visitation remains unchanged. Testing all negative staff members is occurring weekly.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Administrator, LNHA, LALD

Renville Health Services

Phone: (320) 329-4373

Fax: (320) 329-3678

Good Morning –

Late last night, we were informed that a Prairie View staff member became symptomatic and has tested positive. Per MDH requirements, Prairie View will need to go into outbreak testing (testing all tenants and staff). This will continue until there is 14 days of no new positive cases. Visitation will need to be postponed until at least the results of our first PCR test return. I will be sending these results out when received this week. Thank you for your understanding during this time.

Casie Knoshal

Administrator

Renville Health Services

Good Morning –

Our RenVilla continues to routinely test non-vaccinated staff weekly (MOM/PV monthly) and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. As of today, we continue to have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our buildings. We are following recommendations from the MDH, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

On Wednesday of this week, President Biden announced that he has directed the CMS to develop emergency regulations requiring Nursing homes to mandate COVID-19 Vaccinations for staff members.  This new requirement is a key component of increasing vaccinations rates and protecting the health and safety of nursing home residents and staff. These vaccines have shown to help prevent COVID-19 and have proven to be effective against the Delta variant.

CMS is expected to release the new regulations in September. At this time we are uncertain of when the vaccine mandate will go into effect or details related to enforcement of the vaccination mandate.  We will honor exemptions for medical and religious reasons, required by law.

We are required to follow all CMS guidelines, but ask for your patience as we wait for more information regarding the key issues needed to move forward. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me.

We continue to work with Cami Peterson-DeVries, AGNP on our infection control practices, policies, and emergency management. If you have any questions on this, she can be reached at CPeterson-DeVries@sfhs.org or 320.287.0313.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Administrator, LNHA, LALD

Renville Health Services

Phone: (320) 329-4373

Fax: (320) 329-3678

Good Morning –

MOM/PV – No change. No new cases.

For RenVilla – All results have returned from this week’s PPT testing (all staff/all residents) with no new positive cases. This means that visitation can resume with all visitors. Screening and wearing masks will continue. Visits will continue to be offered in resident rooms only. We also encourage patio visits if comfortable. We will be completing the 2^nd round of PPT testing on Tuesday.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Good Morning –

MOM and PV continue to have no new positives (no changes).

A new development has occurred with the Covid update for RenVilla. On 7/19/21, RenVilla had an employee with minimal resident contact develop symptoms mid-shift. The employee was immediately excused for 10 days and went home. The employee received a PCR test on 7/19/21 at the employee’s local clinic. The test results returned negative. Later, symptoms worsened, and the employee was tested again on 7/23/21. We were just informed that those results returned positive. The employee remains in quarantine at home. The employee had very little contact with others when last working the morning of 7/19/21.

This has been reported to MDH. As required by MDH, we will begin point-prevalence testing. This will occur until 2 rounds of testing return with no new positives. For visitation, as required by MDH, we will need to postpone regular visitation until at least after the first round of PPT testing results return (testing is scheduled for tomorrow). If all results are negative, we will resume visitation as normal. If a result returns positive, visitation will be addressed based on exposure risks.

Compassionate Care and Essential Care Visitors will not be affected by this change. Resident activities, dining, and appointments will also not be affected.

Thank you for your partnership in ending this pandemic. If you have not received the vaccination, we encourage you to connect with your primary health care provider or use the Vaccine Locator map (Vaccine Locations / COVID-19 Updates and Information – State of Minnesota (mn.gov)) to find a vaccine appointment near you.

Renville Health Services continues to routinely test all non-vaccinated staff monthly (last completed 7/20/21: all negative) and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. We are following recommendations from the MDH, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Another update will be sent when tomorrow’s test results return. Feel free to forward these updates to others. If you know of someone wanting these updates who is not already receiving them, please reply with their name and email, and they will be added to the group.

Thank you,

Casie Knoshal

Administrator, LNHA, LALD

Renville Health Services

Phone: (320) 329-4373

Fax: (320) 329-3678