Governor’s Announcement

Dear Friends, Families, and Community Partners,

As you may now be aware, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office recently announced that as of March 10, many sectors of our state’s economy will be able to “reopen” pursuant to certain guidance. You may have heard that the mask mandates that have been in place for almost a year will be rescinded, and Texas will be “open for business.” One thing you may not have heard is that in his Order, the Governor specifically designated long-term care facilities like ours as still being required to continue to follow the guidance of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC).

As facilities that are regulated by federal, state and local government agencies, we are required to continue to follow the infection control guidance of the CDC and Texas HHSC in the operation of our facility. As an industry, we are in contact with our regulatory agencies in order to determine how we can potentially relax certain visitation guidelines in the future, while continuing to follow state, federal and local laws, and to keep our residents, staff and their families safe. This, and the Governor’s express guidance that long-term care facilities must continue to follow the existing HHSC regulations, means that until further notice, we are unable to relax the screening, testing, masking and other visitation requirements at our facilities.

We will keep you updated as new information becomes available from our federal, state and local regulatory authorities. As always, our primary focus will continue to be on the health and safety of our residents, staff and their families.

Aaron P Mulvey, LNFA, CALM, CPCAdministrator