Yesterday we received a letter from the City of Sioux Falls about an ordinance approved by the city council last week that is consistent with CDC guidelines and an ordinance recently signed by Governor Noem for the state of South Dakota. The ordinance states that “enclosed retail businesses that promote public gathering” which includes restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, bars, breweries, casinos, recreational or athletic facilities, health clubs, and entertainment venues “are limited to not more than ten patrons on the premises for onsite use of the services and/or consumption of the goods at any given time.” You may or may not know that Covell’s and the Deli are both licensed as restaurants with the city of Sioux Falls. So, we need to comply with this ordinance. Therefore, beginning Thursday, April 2nd, we will only allow 10 residents in Covell’s at a time. We will also allow 10 residents in the Deli/Terrace Area for seating for either food they get from the Deli or food from Covell’s. Staff will come take orders at the Deli/Terrace area tables for people who want to order from Covell’s menu and bring to you. If you order from Covell’s menu, you will use your meal plan or pay the normal Covell’s meal price the same as if you were eating in Covell’s. If you want to get food from the Deli you can sit at the tables in the Deli/Terrace Area or get the food to go and take back to your apartment. You can also order from the Deli or Covell’s which we will deliver to your apartment by calling 575-0266.
If you have ANYTHING (groceries, food prescriptions, etc.) delivered to Dow Rummel, they MUST be delivered to our main entrance. We will call you to let you know you have items here or we will deliver them to you if we have adequate staff to do deliveries.
We have heard that there are a couple residents at two different facilities here in Sioux Falls who have tested positive for COVID-19. Therefore, we feel it is important for us to take additional steps to keep our residents safe here at Dow Rummel. So far, we have been asking staff and others (primarily medically necessary personnel) coming into our facility to do a self-screening each day. Beginning tomorrow morning we will be taking temperatures for everyone who comes into our community, including staff. Also, beginning tomorrow, the doors to the Village South/Chapel entrance will only be unlocked from 5 AM to 8 AM when the majority of our staff come to work. We will have a staff person attending to everyone coming in by taking their temps and doing a health screening. We will have limited access through those doors during the rest of the time. From 8 AM to 6:30 PM we will be doing the same screening for everyone who comes into our community through the main entrance. You will need to use the main entrance if you go out for a walk or medical appointment. You really should not be leaving the campus for any other reason. Nor should you be going for walks with anyone other than other residents who live here at Dow Rummel. If you go out for a walk and return after 6:30, you will need to come in the Village South/Chapel entrance and use the nurse call button to ring for a Village South staff person to come to the door to let you in.
In the next couple of days, all staff and others coming into our buildings will be required to wear a mask when on campus. This will begin as soon as we have enough masks for everyone to wear. So, if you see staff wearing masks, it is not because they have symptoms. It is because we want to protect our residents from the potential of the virus within our buildings. If staff or residents have a fever or show any other symptoms, they will be sent home and not allowed to come into our buildings until they have met the requirements to return.
Now more than ever remember to:
Clean your hands regularly using soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Always cover your cough. Use a tissue or your sleeve when you cough or sneeze. Clean your hands after coughing or sneezing.