Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

On January 12th, we were notified that two of our non-healthcare staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. It has been determined that these staff members have not had close contact with Birch Bay Village residents during the period of infection. Any impacted staff contacts have been notified. The staff members will remain in quarantine and will not return to work at BBV until cleared by MDI Hospital following CDC guidance. The recent infections are related to personal contact with individuals testing positive for COVID-19 outside of Birch Bay community. We currently have no transmission within Birch Bay and again no residents are impacted at this time. The level of high community spread on MDI is concerning and will likely result in further cases and I urge you all to take extra precautions to protect our Residents, Staff, and families.

At this time, the CDC has not asked Birch Bay to make any changes to visitation. Birch Bay Village has made the decision to close the Bay Vista Dining Room 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