August 11, 2021
To: All WACOSA stakeholders
From: Steve Howard, Executive Director
Re: Reinstatement of COVID-19 masking requirements
On Friday of last week, WACOSA sent home a memo with all clients entitled “Important Mask Update” (attached in link below). Many of you have had the opportunity to see this memo. For those of you who have not, please be aware that, due to the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 virus in the form of the Delta Variant, we have once again instituted the requirement that all staff, visitors etc. to WACOSA wear a mask while interacting inside of any WACOSA building or associated service space. We have updated our COVID-19 Pandemic Response Action and Prevention Plan with this change as recommended by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This change was put in place as of Monday, August 9, 2021 (today) at all WACOSA locations.
While this is not the direction we hoped to see our programs take, the health and safety of those we serve, our staff, our stakeholders and our greater community are of primary importance at all times. We realize this represents a return to some previously experienced challenges and more cumbersome health and safety practices. We hope we will be able to discontinue this measure sooner than was the case during early COVID-19 related measures. Of course, we will continue to keep you posted as things change and evolve with measures related to the most recent pandemic concerns. As has been the case since the 2020 pandemic outbreak, we will also continue observing healthy practices of practicing social distancing, sanitizing and handwashing.
While the challenges and variations of COVID-19 persist, we are hopeful there will eventually be an end to the concerns of the pandemic. Until that time, we continue to appreciate your patience. Even as we work to address the current staffing issues, we ask you keep in mind that returning to more normal daily living and services will take time. We will do our best to keep you posted as new information develops and ask you visit our website or Facebook pages for the latest information regarding WACOSA’s services.
Please click link below for Important Mask Update
Mask Update as of Aug. 9 2021