Gold Plate eyes Oct. 1 to reopen senior site

Gold Plate Senior Center in Du Quoin tentatively will reopen five days a week for lunch on Oct. 1, according to the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging.

The Gold Plate board still has to sign off on the Oct. 1 date, but Becky Salazar, executive director of the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging, said the board is interested in having the center open in conjunction with its new fiscal year on Oct. 1.

"Obviously, that could still change," Salazar said, depending on the further impact of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

Gold Plate will be the final southern Illinois senior meal site to reopen post-pandemic, but it has never stopped offering meals for pickup and delivery. Clients can pick up hot meals every weekday from the site at 721 N. Hickory in Du Quoin. Clients who want delivery will have hot meals delivered on Mondays and Thursdays, and they'll also get three frozen prepared meals for the other three days of the week.

Salazar said the other senior meal sites in southern Illinois have seen slower traffic than normal since they reopened, as seniors concerned about COVID-19 are increasingly interested in pickup and delivery meals. The good side of that, she said, is that sites can begin to reintroduce some activities on-site, since their numbers make it possible to socially distance.

In fact, Salazar said, John A. Logan College has agreed to come to Gold Plate once a week during October for senior technology classes, teaching clients how to use the tech available on their phones and computers. The classes will be held from 10-11 a.m. but the days of the week have not been settled.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's mandate for senior centers is that everyone inside must remain masked except while eating.

Salazar said the other senior sites she has talked to are determined to stay open, "even if it means fewer people and more guidelines."

Most other sites open by July, but the Gold Plate board, alarmed by the increase in COVID cases, hesitated. In August, the board said it would hold off until Labor Day, and now the date of reopening is likely to be Oct. 1.

These centers are critical to the well-being of seniors, Salazar says, since they offer an array of social services, not just meals.