Ann Lowe plays a game of pinochle with other Golden Hour Senior Center patrons Friday afternoon. The center has added events to its calendar in November, but staff continue to monitor the ongoing pandemic in Sweetwater County.
Some of the days on Golden Hour Senior Center's calendar of events look as busy as they did before the coronavirus pandemic started.
On Tuesday, the center's calendar showed events for open pool, line dancing, a TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meeting, Wii Bowling, lunch, bridge, a watercolor class and modified bunko. Events started at 8 a.m. and wrapped up by 3:30 p.m. Pandemic response guidelines continue to be observed, with patrons required to wear masks while in the building and strict limits of how many patrons can participate in an activity.
While it appears GHSC is opening itself to more activities, Executive Director Jackie Grubb said her staff is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and have already started scaling back event attendance limits.
"We're still trying to see what we can do safely," Grubb said.
The center's calendar is planned a month before it's published and Grubb said they started adding more events before they knew the coronavirus rates would drastically increase. Grubb said some of the center's patrons have since tested positive for COVID-19, but none of the infections occurred at GHSC.
Grubb said they're hoping they won't have to shut down the center, saying the staff have discussed the possibility of canceling events due to the risk of exposing the center's patrons to COVID-19, scaling back as needed.
However, Grubb also recognizes the need to provide a space for the center's patrons to socialize at, one of the biggest concerns she's heard from patrons.
"It's a challenging position to be in with the our at-risk population," Grubb said.
If the center is closed due to COVID-19, Grubb said the main mission it would still fulfill is providing meals to house-bound seniors in the community.
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