The Coachella Valley’s senior centers, or community centers for older adults, are reopening within the next few weeks. Despite initial coordinationon those plans, not all of the centers are opening at the same time — or following the same guidelines.
The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert,for example, will open next week, while others are waiting to be in closer alignment with the state’s reopening date of June 15.
In board discussions and in meetings together, senior center leaders have weighed concerns about privacy and individual freedom against issues of public health and safety.The result is varying rules about face masks — and only one place allowing vaccinated people to enter without a mask.
“That’s happened every step of the way,” said Geoff Corbin, president and CEO of the Cathedral City Senior Center.
Though California’s tiered blueprint for reopening is set to end by mid-June, no guidance was provided for senior centers.
“In all the tiers and all the businesses they talked about in the tiers, there’s nothing about senior centers,” said Jack Newby, executive director of the Joslyn Center in Palm Desert. “No one was able to give us any kind of clear answer.”
In order to get some guidance, Newby and other local directors met with Riverside County’s public health officer, Dr. Geoffrey Leung.
Leung recommended the senior centers take a conservative approach to reopening since they serve a demographic deemed “vulnerable” to COVID-19, Newby…
