With improving statistics around COVID-19, it is a time of hope and a promise of return to future ‘normalcy’! As we look toward easing restrictions and phased re-openings, RVNAhealth encourages you to resist the temptation to ease your own hygiene and distancing measures, especially around higher risk populations. Now is not the time to re-introduce visits to older family members and friends who are isolating safely at home. The CDC still recommends continued social distancing for older adults.

Likewise, RVNAhealth encourages alternative ways to stay connected with older family members and friends who remain at home. Rather than in-home visits, we recommend ‘drive-by visits,’ visits through glass doors or windows, video chats and good old-fashioned phone calls! Outdoor visits, with face coverings and at least six feet distancing, may also be considered if all are healthy with no symptoms.

If an in-home visit is unavoidable, RVNAhealth suggests the following precautions: face coverings worn by all visitors, hands washed or sanitized thoroughly upon arrival, and maintaining at least six feet distance from anyone else in the home. If dropping off groceries into the home, follow the above precautions first. Finish by disinfecting touched surfaces and washing hands.

While we all look forward to the return of handshakes and hugs, for now please keep the (social) distance with our more vulnerable loved ones.