May 11, 2020 - “As the Coronavirus/COVID-19 respiratory illness becomes more widespread in our community, we have received confirmation late Sunday that a staff member at St. Luke Health Services in Oswego has tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member is now in isolation at home. The source of the infection has not been confirmed at this time, but is believed to have originated in the community. We are coordinating our response with the Health Department.

Currently there are no residents or other staff who are displaying symptoms of a respiratory illness. The employee who has tested positive had limited contact with residents at St. Luke, but for those residents who are suspected to have come in contact, they are now being closely monitored and have been placed on precautionary quarantine measures. Employees who had direct contact with this individual are being contacted by our Employee Health team. As per our policy and government guidelines, any staff member who displays symptoms or is suspected will not be allowed to report to work, will be referred to their primary care provider, and the Oswego County Health Department will be notified.

Any resident on our healthcare campus who begins to display symptoms or is suspected will be sent to the Oswego Hospital and treated. In the event it becomes necessary to provide needed care for residents who are suspected or who have an active case of COVID-19 on-site, we have established isolation areas within each of our facilities and will cohort and care for a resident there. We have dedicated care teams in place at each residence who are ready to respond to limit the potential interaction with the rest of the residence if this becomes necessary.

We are in regular contact with the New York State and Oswego County Health Departments, and are following guidelines from the Health Departments and Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC). We are taking every step as recommended by authorities to respond to this issue. Our continuing active measures across all of our affiliate organizations include; 

  • Staff are using all required precautionary measures and personal protective equipment (PPE) when entering a resident room and throughout each building.
  • If they leave their room, residents wear a facemask if able, perform hand hygiene, limit their movement in the facility, and perform social distancing (stay at least 6 feet away from others).
  • All residents are at a minimum screened daily by our Care team for signs and symptoms of a respiratory illness. Any resident living on a floor where COVID-19 is identified will be screened twice daily.
  • Following the CDC and NYSDOH guidelines, our staff will implement appropriate isolation procedures and use all protective measures for any resident if they were to develop a new onset of respiratory symptoms.
  • We continue our daily health screenings of all staff as they enter a residence, before they are allowed to report to their work assignment. 

 Preventing the spread of this virus will continue to be a top priority. With an abundance of caution, we continue our extensive cleaning and hygiene measures already in place, and we continue to strictly enforce the Federal and State directive prohibiting all non-medically necessary visitors from entering any residence on our healthcare campus. We are providing the latest information regarding our active COVID-19 measures on our website at www.stlukehs.com.”