Employee's family member potentially has COVID-19

Good morning all, 

Looking for opinions on what everyone would do in this situation... We have an employee who's family member (whom they live with) potentially has COVID-19, they would not test them since they are not high risk but said to assume they have it and treat it like the flu. Once we learned this, they immediately stopped working, this was about 7 days ago. They have not exhibited any symptoms thus far. They work on a separate shift than the production workers (they are sanitation) so I know that no one else was directly exposed. We also sanitize all contact surfaces with an EPA approved sanitizer for 10 minutes, 5x a day (after start of production, after each break/lunch and at end of day).

What would you do?

How long would you keep them from coming into work? 

Looking for input, comments, suggestions.. 

I've read a lot about if the actual worker at your facility is confirmed to carrying this virus but with shortage of tests, they are not testing everyone so how do you know how to respond? Again, this is not confirmed... doctors only said to assume and the employee is not exhibiting symptoms, only the family member. 

Thanks!!

Good Morning!

We had same scenario about a week ago:

This employee was an office employee. She informed the manager that her husband's coworker tested positive for COVID-19. So the manager told her to stay at home and not come to work and monitor herself. She has been now at home for a week and just today our manager informed us she tested negative. So we sanitized her office and us office people kept monitoring ourselves for any symptoms. She did not come back to work yet. So normally we would keep them away from work for about 2 weeks.

In the case of if an employee tested positive, We will be shutting down our entire operation. Everyone should stay home and monitor themselves and then we will be waiting to see what the manager makes a decision. We will probably deeply sanitize everything while everyone is away and I guess wait for any orders. 

Yes we are considered essential employees but the sad truth is that anyone can contract the virus and spread unknowingly. And we go back to our families or whoever we live with and infect them. It's a scary task to show up to work. :/ we are at high risk.

Wha is your government's current advice? Over here we would isolate that person for 14 days

https://assets.publi...nce_diagram.pdf

In our company if a person is sick, they stay home until they are better and then come back to work.

Yes we are following the 14 day isolation protocol. Thank you for sharing this visual though. We weren't sure when that 14 days should begin. 

CDC has published the guidelines. 14 days since exposure. The only definitive measure here will be when the household member became symptomatic( they may have been asymtomatic for up to 10 days). Asymptomatic carriers of the SARS-Cov2 virus are thought to be a big contributor to how fast this bug is moving.

If your employee gets a fever during the time off, then you have something new to go on.  72 hours after the fever breaks and at least 7 days since the onset of symptoms. 

I would have them seek advice from a PCP or county Health department before returning to work.

The landscape is changing quickly and a lot yet to learn so be sure to check CDC and local advice the day you expect them back.

Dave

Our default policy (as it stands right now) is 14 days .  This includes anyone testing positive, showing symptoms, or has been with (within 6 feet for 10 minutes or longer) someone who tested positive for COVID-19.  Additionally, is someone lives with a person who has COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive they are not to report to work for 14 days and alert us of any changes in their wellness.

Our company is paying people if they fall into this category.  So far, we have two people, but no one who is COVID-19 positive.

CDC has published the guidelines. 14 days since exposure. The only definitive measure here will be when the household member became symptomatic( they may have been asymtomatic for up to 10 days). Asymptomatic carriers of the SARS-Cov2 virus are thought to be a big contributor to how fast this bug is moving.

 

If your employee gets a fever during the time off, then you have something new to go on.  72 hours after the fever breaks and at least 7 days since the onset of symptoms. 

 

I would have them seek advice from a PCP or county Health department before returning to work.

 

The landscape is changing quickly and a lot yet to learn so be sure to check CDC and local advice the day you expect them back.

 

Dave

This is good advice, thank you for sharing. 

Our default policy (as it stands right now) is 14 days .  This includes anyone testing positive, showing symptoms, or has been with (within 6 feet for 10 minutes or longer) someone who tested positive for COVID-19.  Additionally, is someone lives with a person who has COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive they are not to report to work for 14 days and alert us of any changes in their wellness.

 

Our company is paying people if they fall into this category.  So far, we have two people, but no one who is COVID-19 positive.

Sounds like we are doing the same thing as you guys. Thank you for sharing and the reassurance.