CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Senior living communities have been part of the high-risk population when it comes to COVID-19. That's why a few local facilities are still taking every precaution they can to protect that group.
Throughout the pandemic, our most vulnerable populations have typically been those in nursing homes or retirement facilities.
With COVID cases on the rise, two local senior living facilities said they're still doing their part to make sure residents and staff remain safe.
When it comes to visitors:
"We'll check their temperature, we'll ask you a few questions about any possible exposure to COVID and we'll get you in our system as being a reported visitor and we'll ask that you wear a mask the whole time that you're here," Joshua Lawrence with the Mirador said.
If your temperature is higher than normal:
"If we need to, then we can do a point of contact test for COVID and then we will advise you from there," Ken Hiscox with the Palms Nursing and Rehabilitation Center said.
Unlike last year, vaccines are available, which adds another layer of protection.
"Of all of our staff members here, we're 72% vaccinated," Lawrence said. "Currently, our community is well over 95% vaccinated so we're not even close to the level of having to restrict visitation."
So far, administrators said what they've been doing works, and they aren't going to stop anytime soon.
"Since January, we haven't had any of our residents contract COVID," Lawrence said. "We've had a couple of employees, they were caught through our screening process. They were sent home. They did their quarantines."
Administrators said they will continue keeping the health of residents and staff a top priority while keeping watch of any more surges in COVID-19 around the community.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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