United Samaritans Foundation extends closure due to coronavirus outbreak among staff
The United Samaritans Foundation will not resume its meal services as planned Monday because an additional five employees tested positive for COVID-19.
No new reopening date is scheduled, but the foundation may postpone it another week, said Board of Directors President John S. Rogers.
United Samaritans first closed all operations Dec. 21 after one employee working at its Turlock facility tested positive for the coronavirus. Since then, five more employees who work at the Turlock facility received positive test results, Rogers said.
“We’re not going to open up if we don’t have a staff,” Rogers said. “If they’ve been associated with people who tested positive, then they’re also quarantined. That’s why we’re not going to open up until all this is cleared up.”
Rogers said he could not say whether any staff have recovered, if any staff required hospitalization, what symptoms staff have or how severe the cases are. All employees who tested positive are still isolating, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people who contract COVID-19 isolate until three conditions are met: it has been at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared, no fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.
The CDC also advises a 14-day quarantine for people who have had close contact with someone who has COVID-19. The first employee who tested positive began feeling sick Dec. 18 and got tested, leading to the rest of the staff getting tested Dec. 20, Rogers previously told The Bee.
United Samaritans’ Turlock facility impacted
United Samaritans initially planned to resume services, including its mobile lunch program, on Jan. 4.
United Samaritans is not aware of any volunteers contracting the virus in the outbreak, Rogers said. Where the first employee who tested positive caught the coronavirus is unknown, Rogers said, but the foundation believes it spread at the Turlock facility. He did not know whether a second round of testing was done for all staff.
Rogers said there is nothing specific the public can do to help.
“It’s just got to run its course,” Rogers said. “We’ve just got to make sure everybody is free of COVID-19 so we can open up and see people again.”
United Samaritans usually provides free lunches five days a week throughout the county in Turlock, Ceres, Keyes, Modesto, Hughson and Patterson. In October, the nonprofit served nearly 25,000 meals through its truck and senior meals programs, according to its December newsletter. It also delivered about 17,000 meals to families, students and seniors through emergency food box and grocery delivery programs that month.
People who need meals during United Samaritans’ closure can go to the Turlock Gospel Mission, said Rachel Hopper, a program student at the mission. The Gospel Mission gives meals to people who line up at its gates on weekdays at 8 a.m., noon and 6 p.m., Hopper said. The Turlock Gospel Mission is about two blocks away from the foundation’s Turlock facility, at 432 S. Broadway.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
