SIDNEY — Fair Haven has been diligently following state and federal guidelines regarding COVID-19, and will continue to do this by participating in National Guard COVID-19 testing on Thursday, July 2.

To date, there have been no confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 among the residents or the staff. This is a federal and state requirement for nursing homes, and the National Guard has been tasked with doing the testing. Any staff that are unavailable to be tested on the day the National Guard arrives must receive a test within three weeks of the National Guard date.

Preparing for the testing is taking some work, but the more effort that Fair Haven puts forward, the smoother it will go on testing day. Fair Haven is confident that the testing will go well and good results will come from it.

Since the first day of the quarantine, Fair Haven’s entire staff has pitched in and done what needed to be done to keep residents safe, and also keep themselves safe.

The Ohio Department of Health completed a COVID-19-centered infection control survey last month and Fair Haven received a deficiency-free survey result.

The National Guard testing should not have any effect on the scheduled window visit program that the facility has offered, so families who have scheduled visits during the time should be able to continue their visit with minimal to no disruption.

There is still no guidance from the state and federal authorities about when visitors can re-enter nursing homes. There were updates for all other types of facilities, but no word for Skilled Nursing Facilities like Fair Haven. We at Fair Haven are eager to return to normal, as are all resident families, and we want to make sure we do it correctly and in accordance with state and federal guidelines.