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Signature HealthCARE facilities may now allow visitors, but only if certain strict state requirements are met.

At this point, Signature HealthCARE at Fountain Circle in Winchester has not met those conditions because 111 residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19, and the Clark County Health Department is currently working four active cases involving residents of the nursing home. Seven residents have died of the respiratory disease. Sixty-nine residents and 27 employees have recovered.

Ann Bowdan Wilder, a spokesperson for Fountain Circle’s parent company, said that in accordance with Gov. Andy Beshear’s reopening timeline for skilled and long-term health care facilities, limited in-person, outdoor visitation was allowed to resume July 15 if conditions are met.

“Signature HealthCARE and its 41 facilities in Kentucky have been working diligently to devise a plan that will permit us to reopen” under those guidelines as well as those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and state and local departments of public health.

“We all have been looking forward to the day when residents and their families can celebrate seeing each other in person once again,” Jason Shelton, Signature HealthCARE Kentucky operations president, said in a prepared statement. “It has been a very difficult time for all of us, and particularly our residents and their families, to restrict visitation.”

He thanked families for their cooperation and patience.

Criteria for allowing limited visitation include having no new resident or staff test positive for COVID-19 for at least 28 days. As of July 22, Fountain Circle had three residents and two staff test positive in the past 14 days.

The facilities must also have outdoor facilities where families can visit, and Fountain Circle does.

When outdoor visitation is allowed:

– A resident may have no more than two visitors each visit.

– Visits must be scheduled in advance using a visitation calendar on the facility’s website, fountaincircle.com.

– Visitors must read and electronically sign a visitor COVID-19 form, located on the website, in advance of the visit.

– Visitors must wear masks at all times and respect the six-foot social distancing rule, and they may not touch a resident.

– Visitors must be screened outside and must sign a visitor COVID-19 screening form before visitation can be granted.

Until visitation is allowed, families and friends can communicate with the residents through alternative means, such as social media, cards and letters.