Outbreak Protocols Document | Art Worker Safety

Outbreak Stages

and

Containment Protocols

General notes:

On the issue of whether an employer can require that an employee get a COVID-19 test before returning to work, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states:

“The ADA requires that any mandatory medical test of employees be “job related and consistent with business necessity.” Applying this standard to the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers may take steps to determine if employees entering the workplace have COVID-19 because an individual with the virus will pose a direct threat to the health of others. Therefore an employer may choose to administer COVID-19 testing to employees before they enter the workplace to determine if they have the virus.”

Source

On the issue of creating “pods” of workers, the Art Services Worker Safety Coalition would like to encourage all workplaces to create assigned, permanent employee “teams” wherever possible to minimize the risk of cross contamination, as well as the risk of having to quarantine a larger number of employees due to their proximity to an infected person or a potentially infected person.

All recommended quarantine periods described in the document are based on the most recent recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are subject to change as the CDC and other health organizations update their recommendations.

Stage 0

A Stage 0 scenario is when an employee or individual is feeling ill and/or showing symptoms associated with COVID-19.

Workplace protocols for Stage 0

1. Employee experiencing symptoms will stay home and not go into work.

2 .Employee will take the CDC/Google Self Test to assess whether these symptoms could be COVID-19 relate

This self assessment test will indicate one of three recommended actions:
- Employee is likely not at risk for having Covid-19, and therefore does not require a Covid-19 test. They should continue to monitor their symptoms and should any develop, take the test again and be in touch with their workplace about the results.
- It is possible that the employee has been exposed to Covid-19 and should get a COVID-19 test. Employee should stay at home while waiting for the results of the test, and keep their workplace informed about the results.
- Employee should seek emergency medical help immediately. After calling 911 or going to an Emergency Department to report their condition. The workplace should be informed of the situation so that they can take appropriate next steps.

3. Employee will contact their workplace to inform them that they will not be going into work.

4. Employee should inform their workplace of any person that they had been in close contact with who is also employed by the workplace:

For COVID-19, a close contact is defined as anyone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 48 hours before the person began feeling sick until the time the patient was isolated.

5. If employee tests positive on a COVID-19 test, refer to Stage 2 of Outbreak Stages and Containment Protocols. If negative, employee can return to work, if symptom free for 72 hours without the aid of medication.

GOOGLE/CDC COVID Self Test

Stage 1

Stage 1 scenarios include:

Known exposure to an environment (workplace, residence, etc.) where a person who has been infected with COVID-19 (verified with a positive test result) has been.
Known exposure to a person infected with COVID-19.

Workplace protocols for Stage 1 exposures

1. Immediately upon learning of any known exposure to a COVID-19 positive person, the employee must notify their direct supervisor and inform their workplace of their potential exposure to the virus.

The affected employee will not return to work, and will not enter any workplace facilities.

2. If the employee learns of their potential exposure while at work they will:

Immediately be separated from other employees.
Immediately leave the facility to self-isolate, if they meet the criteria for isolation, at home for 10 days (or whatever length of time recommended by local and federal health authorities).
- Who needs to self-isolate:
  - People who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19–excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past 3 months or who are fully vaccinated.
  - People who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered do not have to quarantine or get tested again as long as they do not develop new symptoms.
  - People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first COVID-19 infection may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.
  - If an employee has been fully vaccinated, and they have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, they are not required to quarantine if they show no symptoms.

3. The employee will take steps to get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible. Employee will get tested a second time at a minimum of 7 days from their first COVID-19 test:

This may include contacting their personal healthcare provider.
Employee will self-isolate while awaiting the results of both COVID-19 tests.

4. The employee will not return to work until they have received TWO negative results on their COVID-19 test (first and the follow-up tests), and have shown no further symptoms for 72 hours without the aid of medication.

5. All employees who may have had contact with the potentially infected person will be notified:

Notification will respect all HIPAA privacy laws: no employee will be named during these notifications.
Employees who had direct, prolonged contact with the potentially infected person will be notified directly of this potential exposure, and be encouraged to self-isolate at home.
Employees who had direct, prolonged contact with the potentially infected person will be separated from their coworkers until the infected person’s test results are known.

6. A full deep cleaning of the facility will be completed as soon as the workplace has been notified of the potential exposure.

stage 2

Stage 2 scenario includes:

A single employee who reports a positive result on a COVID-19 test.
This is considered a “potential outbreak event”.

Workplace protocols for Stage 2 exposures

Immediately upon learning of their positive test result to the COVID-19 virus, the employee must notify their direct supervisor and inform their workplace of their COVID-19 status:
- The COVID-19 infected employee shall be known as Employee A.
- Employee A not return to work, and will not enter any workplace facilities.
If Employee A learns of their positive test result while at work they will:
- Immediately be separated from other employees.
- Immediately leave the facility to self-isolate at home.
Upon notification from Employee A of their positive test result, the facility will immediately be shut down for a minimum of 24 hours, and all employees will be sent home:
- All employees who work in the same facility with Employee A will be notified immediately.
  - Notification will respect all HIPAA privacy laws: no employee will be named during these notifications.
  - Any employee(s) who had direct, prolonged contact with the infected person will be notified immediately of this exposure, sent home, and be asked to self-isolate and seek COVID-19 testing.
    - These employees will be referred to as Employee(s) B.
      - Who needs to self-isolate:
        
        People who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19–excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past 3 months or who are fully vaccinated.
        
        People who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered do not have to quarantine or get tested again as long as they do not develop new symptoms.
        
        People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first COVID-19 infection may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.
        
        If an employee has been fully vaccinated, and they have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, they are not required to quarantine if they show no symptoms.
    - Employee(s) B will self-isolate for a minimum of 3 days prior to getting a COVID-19 test.
    - Employee(s) B will be allowed to return to work once they:
      - Have a negative COVID-19 test result AND
      - Have no symptoms for a minimum of 72 hours without the aid of medication.
Employee A will self quarantine for a minimum of 10 days:
- Before returning to work, Employee A must get a second COVID-19 test (at the end of their self-quarantine period).
- Employee A will not be allowed to return to work until they provide TWO negative COVID-19 test results (first and follow-up tests) and are free of COVID-19 symptoms for a minimum of 72 hours without the aid of medication.
A deep cleaning of the facility will be conducted at the end of the 24 hour facility shut down.
- Once the deep cleaning has been conducted, the facility may resume normal operations with all non-affected employees.
Employer will cooperate with all government mandated efforts to perform contact tracing (if applicable).
Employer will conduct contact tracing to chart all possible contacts that Employee A may have had in the preceding 14 days. This may include reviewing their time clock information and recording where they travelled to for work purposes:
- This research will help guide the decision making process regarding notification of staff, assessing possible extent of employee exposure.
- This research may affect the length of time the facility may be shut down.
Local health department and any other applicable government health authority will immediately be notified of positive COVID-19 test result among staff.
- Results of employer led contact tracing will be provided to local health department and any other applicable government health authority.
Clients and/or vendors who may have come into contact with Employee A or Employee(s) B will immediately be notified of their potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

Stage 3

Stage 3 scenario includes:

Multiple employees who report positive results on a COVID-19 test.
This is considered an “outbreak event”.

Workplace protocols for Stage 3 exposures

All protocols from Stage 2 will be followed. Additional protocols will be followed, as described below:

All staff will be notified of the multiple confirmed cases in the workplace.
All clients and/or vendors who may have come into contact with any employees will immediately be notified of their potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.
Areas of the workplace facility where infected employees were present, or where infected employees were present and were in direct contact with other employees will be immediately shut down for a minimum of 7 days or until a deep cleaning (as outlined in Step 5 below) has been conducted.The minimum amount of time the facility can be shut down is 24 hours before deep cleaning can occur:
- Employees who do not have symptoms, who can work from home may continue to work from home.
- All employees who are required to self isolate and who cannot work from home will be immediately notified and furloughed (or equivalent company/institution policy).
  - Who needs to self isolate:
    - People who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered do not have to quarantine or get tested again as long as they do not develop new symptoms.
    - People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first COVID-19 infection may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.
    - If an employee has been fully vaccinated, and they have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, they are not required to quarantine if they show no symptoms.
    - People who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19–excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past 3 months or who are fully vaccinated.
After 3 days all staff will get a COVID-19 test:
- Employees may only return to work once they show a negative COVID-19 test result and are free of COVID-19 symptoms for a minimum of 72 hours without the aid of medication.
A deep clean of the facility can be conducted by staff who have a negative COVID-19 test result and are free of COVID-19 symptoms for a minimum of 72 hours without the aid of medication and who were not present or in contact with any staff during the outbreak.
Employer will conduct contact tracing to chart all possible contacts that employees may have had in the preceding 14 days:
- This research will help guide the decision making process regarding notification of staff, assessing possible extent of employee exposure.
- This research may affect the length of time the facility may be shut down.
Local health department and any other applicable government health authority will immediately be notified of positive COVID-19 test result among staff:
- Results of employer led contact tracing will be provided to local health department and any other applicable government health authority.