Each Sunday, senior residents at the Regency Palms Long Beach look forward to their weekly outing to church—until last week.

The senior assisted living facility in Downtown Long Beach has restricted resident outings until further notice in response to the looming threat of coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Social distancing, meals in solitude, canceled gatherings and limited visitations from loved ones are just some of the everyday adjustments senior citizens living in care facilities around Long Beach have faced this week.

“In my 20 years of experience this is the first time I’ve seen something of this magnitude with as many unknown factors at a public health level,” said Nicole Francois, a spokeswoman for Edgewater Skilled Nursing Center.

The disease, which killed 23 residents of Life Care Center of Kirkland in Washington state, is considered to be especially dangerous and possibly fatal for the elderly, according to the CDC.

“[The residents] are scared but they’re also grateful knowing that we’re being proactive and that we’re exerting all efforts to keep them safe,” said Carla Mariano, executive director of the retirement home.

Edgewater, a senior rehabilitation facility that houses patients both temporarily and indefinitely, has canceled all events, and limited both visiting hours and the movement of residents around the facility.

Senior residents are being screened regularly for symptoms and are also no longer allowed to share items or dine together in a common area. Instead, meals are being served in their rooms.

“Each of our residents is actively monitored for symptoms of respiratory infection, fever and changes in oxygen saturation,” Francois said. “If a resident is positive for fever or other symptoms, that resident will be placed in quarantine.”

While Edgewater has increased efforts to protect senior residents, methods have varied among the differing facilities in the city. Some have limited visiting hours and halted social interaction between residents, while others are screening visitors for COVID-19 symptoms and carrying on with events and gatherings as usual.

“We will continue to have internal gatherings,” said Aileen Gaddi, life enrichment director at Regency Palms Long Beach. “But a lot of family members of residents are deciding not to attend them because they’re worried.”

The newer retirement community, which usually boasts large social gatherings, classes and even a happy hour for residents in its high rise art deco building, initially canceled its events March 1 but will now be allowing some to go on as planned with all guests screened for symptoms beforehand.

Dorothy Wilson, a resident who is turning 100, will celebrate her birthday with a roaring ‘20s party in the building this Sunday, but her son, who was flying in from Seattle, has decided not to attend, and advised others to reconsider their attendance as well. The celebration will now be limited to residents.

“[Wilson] is sad but she understands the situation,” Gaddi said.

Anyone who enters the Regency Palms, including doctors and employees, are subject to a screening process, which includes taking temperatures and filling out a questionnaire that asks whether the visitor has experienced symptoms or traveled to any areas where an outbreak has occurred.

Similar efforts are being exercised at Bel Vista Healthcare Center on Anaheim Street and Broadway by the Sea.

Broadway by the Sea has shrunk its 24-hour visitation flexibility to just three hours a day, according to a healthcare consultant at the facility who declined to give their name.

“We have limited all of the visitors coming in even if it’s a third party home health agency or hospice members,” Mariano said. “We’ve also postponed doctor’s appointments unless it’s really urgent.”

She added that employees who do call in sick will also need to be “cleared” before coming back to work, which doesn’t necessarily include having to take a COVID-19 test.

“Our staff is aware that if they are sick they need to stay home,” Mariano said.

“It depends what the symptoms are,” she said. “We want to be mindful of how we ask our staff but they just need to know they are in our best interest.”