Cases surge, facilities closed and vaccine plan is in the works

COVID-19 UPDATE

GRF management is working with the Orange County Health Care Agency to schedule a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic as soon as possible.

To keep residents safe amid an ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, all GRF facilities are closed until futher notice.

In areas like Laguna Woods, where active outdoor venues are open, COVID- 19 cases are on the rise, according to a news report in the Orange County Register on Monday.

Case counts had reached the 200s, according to a management report at a Laguna Woods GRF meeting Jan. 5. The active case count in Laguna Woods was 225, with 12 recorded deaths.

The GRF Board will consider reopening outdoor facilities at a special meeting set for Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. in Clubhouse 4. The meeting will also be livestreamed.

It will be the third time the board has looked at the issue.

The board has convened a COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee to map out safe reopening strategies when the time is right.

At the last special GRF Board meeting Dec. 30, members expressed empathy for LW golfers and exercisers, but the majority voted to keep facilities closed, citing an abundance of caution in the wake of potentially dire consequences.

Even with a vaccine on the near horizon, it’s important to stay vigilant, given the skyrocketing hospitalization numbers and the dwindling ICU beds in Orange County.

Countywide, 6 percent of ICU beds were available as of Monday, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. Seal Beach has 8 66 COVID-19 cases. Leisure World makes up one-third of Seal Beach, however specific statistics are not available.

Health officials and the GRF cannot require residents to report on cases they know of in the community because of HIPAA health privacy laws and there is no way to verify information and avoid duplicate reporting.

But residents may anonymously and confidentially s elf-report i f t hey or anyone in their household have had COVID or are in quarantine by calling (562) 431-6586, ext. 312.

While Leisure World’s exact COVID- 19 count is unknown, it is clear that cases are on the rise everywhere, and people are urged to stay home except for essential needs.

Vaccine Update

GRF has put together a Point of Distribution (POD) team to work in concert with the county and Health Care Center to facilitate offering the vaccine to the LW community.

Preliminary work on this project began in November and while the logistics are still being addressed, meetings with the Orange County Health Care Agency have yielded positive information.

Distribution of the vaccine is phased according to risk level with medical personnel and other first responders being the first phase recipients.

The county will progressively move to other tiers as more vaccine becomes available (see page 19 for general vaccine tier information).

The GRF Vaccine Task Force is coordinating, through the county, with Laguna Woods Village to develop plans for the large-scale distribution of vaccinations within the respective communities and will be discussing options at an upcoming meeting.

In the meantime, GRF is developing a questionnaire to determine what percentage of the community would be interested in having a two-step inoculation here.

The larger the participation, both in Leisure World and the population in general, the sooner it is anticipated that indoor activities can resume.

—Kathy Thayer, assistant recreation manager