COVID-19 case rates drop at senior facility in Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - It’s a beautiful day at Merrill Gardens in Santa Maria.

"It’s nice to be out in the sun … getting fresh air and being with people
out here and this garden is beautiful," said resident Earl Severo of Merrill Gardens.

The number of COVID-19 cases at the senior facility continues
to drop.

"Yippy! Would be a good one! Yippy! Yippy! We even got to play Rolex cube
yesterday and at 91 that’s pretty exciting," said resident Joan Ferris of Merrill Gardens.

Since the onset of the Omicron variant, Merrill Gardens experienced a rise
in cases among its staff and residents.

But that’s not the case anymore.

"We’re very blessed the cases have gone down significantly along those lines
… right now we have no employees that have Covid … in our two large
assisted buildings we have nobody … we do have a couple people over at the
garden house and that’s it," said general manager Audie Sherberg of Merrill Gardens.

As of this week managers say visitors no longer have to get tested in order
to enter the facility.

They just need to show proof that they’ve been vaccinated.

"Haha that’s great because I do have a couple great grandchildren that I
like to see once in a while … even if I have to be outside to see them or
what not … but now it makes such a big difference to so many people I know," said Ferris.

While conditions are improving, managers say it hasn’t been easy for staff
during these past couple of months.

"We had to test out on a weekly basis close to 700 people to be sure that we
we know if anybody had contracted this virus … very challenging for the
staff and for the residents and the employees and everybody but we’re very
blessed," said Sherberg.

Since the numbers have gone down, the staff is planning to reopen more
recreational activities for the residents.

"It’s a great day. I knew these trees would be flowering so I made a special
point to come out here today I wanted to see all this this is breathless
unbelievable garden here," said Severo.

Residents are still required to wear masks indoors, but they say, they don’t mind