Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

On February 14^th, we were notified that a recent visitor to the Birch Bay Retirement Village community had tested positive. Subsequent testing of resident close contacts on February 15^th has resulted in two of our Apartment Residents testing positive for COVID-19,

After contact tracing, it has been determined that these residents have had no close contact with Birch Bay Village staff or other residents during the period of infection. These residents are asymptomatic and will isolate until cleared by the CDC. Any staff providing services will be required to wear proper PPE.

We currently have no other transmission within the Birch Bay community and no other residents are impacted at this time. The level of high community spread on MDI continues to be concerning and may result in further cases within the Birch Bay community. We are asking our residents to be diligent and wear masks when traveling throughout the community, going to the dining room or attending programs. Many visitors and residents choose not wear their masks or maintain physical distancing in their apartments during visits. This increases the risk of unknowingly exposing your loved one to covid-19. Masking and physical distancing is a critical mitigation strategy to curbing the transmission of COVID-19. If you are visiting or hosting visitors, please take extra precautions to protect yourself, our residents, staff, and families.

At this time, the CDC has not asked Birch Bay to make any changes to visitation or dining services. Birch Bay Village has made the decision to continue to keep the Bay Vista Dining Room closed to visitors and segregate activities and staff between neighborhoods as much as possible.

Please do your part and remain vigilant. We ask families to not visit the Birch Bay community if you have even extremely mild cold symptoms, are unvaccinated and not boosted, or may had contact with someone experiencing cold symptoms. Many who are testing positive who are vaccinated and boosted are asymptomatic or experiencing very mild symptoms and would otherwise not know that they are carrying COVID-19.

If you have tested positive and have recently visited a loved one at Birch Bay, please let us know.

If you are a resident and feeling unwell, please press your Lifeline button and alert Health Services staff.

Vaccination with boosters, when eligible, remain our best protection in preventing serious illness or death. Be sure that your family and friends continue to get vaccinated and boosted. Please remember that even after you do get vaccinated, we all need to continue to protect ourselves and others by wearing a mask, social distancing, monitoring for symptoms, and practicing good hand hygiene.

Keeping our residents and staff healthy is my biggest priority. Thank you for your continued diligence and support. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Peter Sullivan, Executive Director, Birch Bay Retirement Village