COVID-19
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To our Friends and Family:
Wow! It is hard to believe it has been this long. We are just past the one year anniversary of life with COVID-19. As we enjoy spring and get closer to summer, things are starting to look a little bit brighter. Most counties in California are moving into the Orange Tier and more community activities are re-opening as COVID-19 cases decrease. We have shown great strength in working together as a country, state, and community to do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19. We would like to continue to share the steps OPTIONS Family of Services has taken to address COVID-19 and continues to take as the virus and our community response evolves. We are committed to the health and safety of all the individuals we support and our employees. As you are aware, COVID-19 is a virus that spreads easily from person to person. Signs and symptoms include, fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea. We now know that symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus and many people infected show a wide range of these symptoms ranging from mild to severe and some are asymptomatic.
San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County hunkered down for our holiday season State Issued Stay at Home Order from 11/16/20 to 1/25/21. The hard work and diligence paid off as we are seeing our numbers drop every day. San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County have moved into the Orange Tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, along with many other counties in our state. Our states numbers have decreased greatly and we are seeing the safe re-opening of community activities and events such as, movie theatres, family entertainment centers, professional sports events, and small music events. In order to maintain this progress, it is essential to continue to follow state guidance for COVID-19 safety, which currently includes wearing masks and social distancing in all public places and continuing to avoid medium to large gatherings. Vaccinated individuals are ok to gather in small groups so long as all are fully vaccinated and are not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms. For current guidance please visit, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html.
Here at OPTIONS we continue to focus on preparedness and protection and are closely following the information provided by a number of local, state, and federal health agencies to guide us. Our proactive approach has helped us ensure the safety of all our staff and persons served so far and are so glad to share that we have not seen an outbreak in any of our programs. The persons in our Adult Residential Facilities are now able to have more access to the community and visitors are welcome at all programs. We are working on the plan to re-open our day services and are hopeful to be at least partially open this summer.
We diligently monitor the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis, and will continue to do so to ensure the safety of our persons served, staff and community. Please feel free to contact us with any comments, questions or suggestions. We appreciate your support and kindness as we navigate this challenging situation together.
Thank you!
Debbie Bertrando, CEO
OPTIONS Family of Services
OPTIONS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities achieve their goals, dreams and rightful place as full citizens of their communities. We provide residential living services, community integrated services, supported and independent living services and vocational training services to individuals with head injuries, intellectual disabilities, hearing loss, autism, and other forms of atypical neurology.