New community room offered by WPOA

The Wintergreen community has an attractive, well-appointed community meeting room with a full kitchen in the Wintergreen Property Owners Association’s office building at the base of Wintergreen mountain. The room can seat 10 to 15 people. Learn more here

The meeting space can handle a meeting for 12 people easily. This view is from the kitchen.

The WPOA office parking lot has been expanded and paved with asphalt. The Faulkner Room is on the left.

The Faulkner Room can be used after WPOA office hours thanks to a separate entry door.

There are no fees for Wintergreen property owners. Business or corporate meetings are not allowed.

The room is equipped with an LED projector and screen. High-speed internet via wifi is also available.

Every home should have a Knox Box

Wintergreen Fire Department sells and installs Knox Box key boxes for both residential and commercial properties at Wintergreen. With a Knox Box installed the Fire Department can gain access to the property without having to cause damage through forcible entry. Once installed, keys and alarm codes to the property are placed inside the UL-tested secure enclosure, with only Wintergreen Fire Department having access to the keys. Learn more here

Wintergreen Resort offers parents & grandparents a schooling alternative

Seeing that it has “facilities ideally suited to host small groups of kids,” Wintergreen Resort is conducting a survey of property owners and employees who are parents and grandparents to gauge interest in a program to “facilitate the online learning model” area schools are deploying in response to the COVID-19 restrictions.

A possible daily schedule for the program outlining the resort’s intent is shown here. It would flexible depending on a child’s schedule as outlined by his/her school.

The goal is to “provide closely supervised help accessing and maximizing the curriculum provided by each participants’ school in small, age-appropriate groups while emphasizing, and even exceeding, the basic health and safety requirements of the national, state and regional authorities.”

The resort says its facilities can “allow for better-than-required social distancing, hygiene standards, high-speed internet, consistent small groups (or “pods”), and food service–all of which are designed to minimize exposure and potential spread of the virus. It’s important to emphasize the program is intended to support your child’s school curriculum, not replace it.”

As outlined in a August 20th letter from Wintergreen Resort’s Rod Kessler, “participation will be limited to ensure we maintain the appropriate advantages in safety and health.”

Pierce Byrd, director of the resort’s Snowsports School and Children’s Program Manager, is overseeing this new effort. Byrd has a Masters’ Degree in early childhood education, “and, as luck would have it, Wintergreen has among its staff several others with teaching credentials. Pierce is an extremely capable leader who has been with us for a decade,” the resort’s general manager explained in his letter to the community.

“In addition to the time spent on remote learning, we think the ideal learning environment presents an opportunity for participants to take advantage of the unique outdoor natural resources of Wintergreen.

“The model we have created includes the option to participate in tennis, golf, swimming, hiking, skiing and other recreational activities to enhance the new paradigm. We can even provide opportunities to learn about environmental science and other educational areas of interest,” Kessler noted.

Final cost has not been determined and will depend in part upon the number of students. “Our sincere hope is the need for the program is short-lived, and in that context, we are not viewing this as a long-term profit-motivated endeavor. More details will be available as we know more about the level of interest from you for your children or grandchildren,” Kessler concluded in his letter.

COVID-19 Update: Expect the Number of Cases Here to Rise

from Chief Curtis Sheets, Wintergreen Fire & Rescue

There has been a 36% increase in COVID-19 cases within Nelson County this week. Most of the additional cases have been discovered within the past 48 hours.

as of 08/07/2020

USA Cases - 4,957,653
USA Deaths - 161,682
Virginia Cases - 99,189
Virginia Deaths - 2,322
Nelson Cases - 45
Nelson Deaths - 0

The increase is troubling and sadly we know that one of our patients from earlier this week is listed in "critical condition."

While I don't want to do or say anything which would cause people to dial back their protective measures, I feel it is important that Wintergreen residents know where these cases are occurring.

All cases we have handled this week have been traced back to three facilities which are all located in the southern part of the county. A social club, a church, and a senior living facility are all dealing with outbreaks.

Please continue the good work regarding social distancing. If you should happen to encounter a person without a mask please don't confront them. Simply keep your distance.

Is the situation bad enough that you should stay home? No. Are you safer at home? Yes.

The Virginia hospitalization rate is approximately 9% and the mortality rate is approximately 2.4%. These numbers are updated daily and posted on our website’s homepage at wtgfireresq.org at the bottom of the page.

Virginia is the first state in the nation to launch a COVID-19 tracker application for smartphones. You may download it by searching for "COVIDWISE." Essentially the app allows your phone to archive every person who moves within Bluetooth range who also have the COVIDWISE app installed. Once a person tests positive, they are given a PIN to enter in the tracker. The PIN protects their identity and notifies all persons in the COVIDWISE app who have been in contact with the positive patient.

COVIDWISE could be a great tool, but I caution all users against a false sense of security. For COVIDWISE to be completely accurate three things would have to be true;
1) everyone must have a smartphone,
2) Bluetooth ranges on all participating phones need to be robust, and
3) all smartphone operators would need to feel a moral obligation to activate COVIDWISE.

Of course, none of these three things will ever be absolute. The United States has the world’s largest caseload and conventional tracing methods can’t keep up. COVIDWISE could help fill the void.

If at any point you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email me at csheets@wtgfireresq.org.

Stay safe!