COVID-19 UPDATE | AUGUST 20, 2020

Friends and Family of Santa Marta,

We are proud to share that our community remains resilient without any active cases of COVID-19. Our most recent round of bi-weekly tests for all healthcare staff identified no positive diagnoses. Despite this encouraging news, we are updating our visitation policy based on external circumstances.

During the past two weeks, we have been fortunate enough to help facilitate outdoor visits for residents to see their loved ones in a safe manner. As we began these visits, we recognized that being able to continue them into the future would be dependent on several factors, including the COVID-19 positivity rate in our county and state.

Johnson County and its surrounding areas have unfortunately reported a spike in the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests, which have doubled within the past three weeks. Consequently, we have taken the initiative to halt all outdoor visitations at our community for the time being, effective end of day Friday, August 21. We understand this can be frustrating and upsetting for loved ones, but it is a necessary immediate step to keep residents safe and COVID-19 free.

We will continue to monitor the positivity rates in Johnson County and adhere to guidance from local and state health officials to determine when we are able to resume outdoor visitations. Currently, the county’s 14-day rolling average of positive tests is 11.4%. Santa Marta has determined that we will be able to resume outdoor visitations when this benchmark falls below 7%. This would mean the number of cases in the surrounding area is declining and would put us on par with the national average.

Our community will continue to allow and encourage window visits as well as video calls to ensure residents can see their loved ones as much as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

We appreciate your continued support and cooperation.

Thank you and God bless,

Chet Surmaczewicz
Executive Director