Interim Guidance for COVID-19
Updated: July 10, 2020
In these times of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) is committed first to the health and well-being of our valued staff, their families, and our mountain communities. We as an organization are taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our employees, provide security for their families, and support the mountain communities in which we work and serve. Simultaneously, we also respect that our organization has a valuable role in supporting the economy by providing jobs for 17 employees. Further, our mission and work can continue to progress with the appropriate precautions.
This interim guidance is based on what is currently known about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) will update this interim guidance as needed and as additional information becomes available.
MSI is currently observing and respecting the following requests and formal orders of the state of Colorado:
EIGHTH AMENDED PUBLIC HEALTH ORDER 20-28 SAFER AT HOME AND IN THE VAST, GREAT OUTDOORS June 30, 2020 ,
and our local governments:
· Limiting gatherings of 10 people up to 100 people indoors or outdoors with proper social distancing (6 feet apart) (Governor Polis)
· Increased distancing in the work place- (Governor Polis, Reducing work force in offices by 50%)
· Reducing all non-essential travel, both for work and between offices (San Juan County restrictions)
MSI is further instituting CDC guidance:
· Encouraging remote work for all activities that can support it
· Increasing cleaning routines in the office and field settings
· Increasing social distance in all operations
SPECIFIC ACTIONS
As of March 08, 2020
· MSI is evaluating all of our program activities to understand the risk and potential for exposure.
· MSI has postponed, rescheduled, or changed our large events that are scheduled in the next 6-16 weeks. We are updating our calendars and materials accordingly.
· Each Monday morning, the Leadership Team will convene at 2:00 p.m. for a weekly update and adaptively manage.
· Each Tuesday morning, MSI will host an All-Staff Meeting at 8:00 a.m.to provide updates and direction for weekly work. These meetings will rotate every other week during the busy field season.
· Travel to meetings and between offices is discouraged.
· All meetings should be transitioned to virtual meetings or calls.
· Staff should be prepared by taking their computers home each evening, and other materials that you may need to be productive should remote work become mandatory.
· Staff are encouraged to follow CDC recommendations, and visit CDC’s guidance, San Juan Basin Health, and San Juan County Public Health resources for more information.
If You Are Sick, Stay Home:
Employees who have symptoms of any illness, especially acute respiratory symptoms, are recommended to stay home and not come to work.
Employees are asked to stay home until they are free of fever (100.4° F [38.0° C] or greater using an oral thermometer), signs of a fever, and any other symptoms for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing or other symptom-altering medicines (e.g. cough suppressants).
Employees should notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
MSI will maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for a sick family member.
If You Or a Family Member are Confirmed to Have COVID:
If you or a family member are confirmed to have COVID, notify your supervisor immediately and follow CDC Guidance for reducing the potential of exposing others.
If an employee is confirmed to have COVID-19, MSI will inform fellow employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, but will maintain confidentiality as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to the extent possible.
Employees exposed to a co-worker with confirmed COVID-19 should refer to CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.
Protocols for Positive Symptoms: Individual Employee
• MSI has instituted a daily symptom tracker, which serves as our early signal system. Any positive symptom initiates the following protocol:
1. The employee will be contacted by either the safety coordinator or by the contact tracer. This triggers the contact tracing protocols outlined below
2. The employee will be encouraged to contact their doctor and the Public Health Department. These entities will provide guidance on testing and outside of work-related contact tracing. Since test results* are inconclusive, symptom tracking is still the most reliable method carrying forward.
3. Individuals who exhibit symptoms will be asked to avoid using the office or conducting field work in teams and will be encouraged to self-isolate. Self-isolation should occur for 10 days from the onset of symptoms
4. After 10 days, individuals will start a 3 day timer. If, at any point symptoms return, restart the 3 day timer
5. If 3 days pass without symptoms while not using drugs (i.e. ibuprofen or aspirin), that may suppress symptoms they are considered non-contagious and cleared to return to normal social distancing office and field protocols.
Protocols for Positive Symptoms: Contact Tracing
Once an individual indicates positive symptoms or test results, the following contact tracing protocols will be implemented.
1. The contact tracer will reach out to the employee.
2. As part of contact tracing, the employee will be asked to verify their most recent use of office and anyone related to work duties they have been in contact with.
3. The contact tracer will then contact anyone who shared office space and individuals who the employee had contact within 48 hours prior to expressing symptoms to notify them that they may have been exposed to a positive case.
4. All the individuals contacted above will be asked to no longer visit the office or work with others and begin a two-week self-isolation in regard to the workplace. These employees will be encouraged, but will not be required, to get tested. A negative test does not necessarily mean the employee is not carrying COVID-19 thus self-isolation will continue. During self-isolation, the above protocol should be followed.
5. After 14 days from potential exposure of remaining symptom free, employees can return to the workplace and practice normal social-distancing protocols.
*To protect confidential health information and privacy, no information regarding who has been confirmed as potential COVID case will be shared with any other employees.
**Contact tracing related to an MSI employee is to protect our staff and colleagues; contact tracing outside of work related activities will be conducted by the Public Health Department.
If You Or a Family Member are Potentially Exposed to COVID:
Employees who are well but who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 should notify their supervisor immediately. This includes having a sick family member at home or other community-based exposures.
Staff should refer to CDC guidance for how to conduct a risk assessment of their potential exposure.
Cleanliness in the Workplace:
· Employees should clean their hands often with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60-95% alcohol, or wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
· Visit the CDC’s coughing and sneezing etiquette and clean hands webpage for more information.
· Each day, the last one to leave the office is asked to clean all frequently touched surfaces, such as door knobs and counters.
· Routinely clean all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, countertops, and doorknobs. Use the cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas and follow the directions on the label.
Travel Advisory:
Check the CDC’s Traveler’s Health Notices for the latest guidance and recommendations for each country to which you will travel. Specific travel information for travelers going to and returning from China, and information for aircrew, can be found at on the CDC website.
Employees should check themselves for symptoms of acute respiratory illness before starting travel and notify their supervisor and stay home if they are sick.
Employees who become sick while traveling or on temporary assignment should notify their supervisor and should promptly call a healthcare provider for advice if needed.
Travel and Reintegration Protocols:
· MSI recommends that any staff traveling out of state receive a COVID -19 nasal swab test 3-7 days after return.
· Upon returning home, staff member must self-isolate by working from home for two weeks and pending receipt of negative COVID-19 test results.
· Staff member may be cleared to return to work once negative test results have been confirmed and two-week isolation period, symptom free, occurs.
· If staff member receives positive results on COVID-19 nasal swab test or develops symptoms, they must follow the above outlined in-regard to a positive case
· Once staff member returns to work they will continue to follow the COVID-19 safety protocols adopted by MSI for workplace and field stations.
Administrative Controls:
Administrative controls are changes in work policy or procedures to reduce or minimize exposure to a hazard. MSI’s administrative controls for SARS-CoV-2 include:
· Minimizing contact among workers, clients, and customers by replacing face-to-face meetings with virtual communications and implementing telework where feasible.
· Establishing alternating days or extra shifts that reduce the total number of employees in a facility at a given time, allowing them to maintain distance from one another while maintaining a full onsite work week.
· Discontinuing nonessential travel to locations with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks. Regularly check CDC travel warning levels at: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers.
· Developing emergency communications plans, including a forum for answering workers’ concerns and internet-based communications through Microsoft Teams.
· Training workers who need to use protecting clothing and equipment how to put it on, use/wear it, and take it off correctly, including in the context of their current and potential duties.
· Providing resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene. For example, provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfectants, and disposable towels for workers to clean their work surfaces.
· Requiring regular hand washing or using of alcohol-based hand rubs. Workers should always wash hands when they are visibly soiled and after removing any PPE.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
While administrative controls are considered more effective in minimizing exposure to SARS-CoV-2, PPE may also be needed to prevent certain exposures. While correctly using PPE can help prevent some exposures, it should not take the place of other prevention strategies.
Examples of PPE include: gloves, goggles, face shields, face masks, and respiratory protection, when appropriate. During an outbreak of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, recommendations for PPE specific to occupations or job tasks may change depending on geographic location, updated risk assessments for workers, and information on PPE effectiveness in preventing the spread of COVID-19. MSI will check the OSHA and CDC websites regularly for updates about recommended PPE. All types of PPE must be:
· Selected based upon the hazard to the worker.
· Properly fitted and periodically refitted, as applicable (e.g., respirators)
· Consistently and properly worn when required.
· Regularly inspected, maintained, and replaced, as necessary.
· Properly removed, cleaned, and stored or disposed of, as applicable, to avoid contamination of self, others, or the environment. MSI is obligated to provide their workers with PPE needed to keep them safe while performing their jobs. The types of PPE required during a COVID-19 outbreak will be based on the risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 while working and job tasks that may lead to exposure.
Certain MSI staff working under OSHA Health and Safety requirements must adhere to the following: OSHA Classifying Worker Exposure to SARS-CoV-2:
Worker risk of occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, during an outbreak may vary from very high to high, medium, or lower (caution) risk. The level of risk depends in part on the industry type, need for contact within 6 feet of people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2, or requirement for repeated or extended contact with persons known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2.
To help employers determine appropriate precautions, OSHA has divided job tasks into four risk exposure levels: very high, high, medium, and lower risk. Most American workers will likely fall in the lower exposure risk (caution) or medium exposure risk levels.
Very High Exposure Risk
Very high exposure risk jobs are those with high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID-19 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers in this category include:
· Healthcare workers (e.g., doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics, emergency medical technicians) performing aerosol-generating procedures (e.g., intubation, cough induction procedures, bronchoscopies, some dental procedures and exams, or invasive specimen collection) on known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
· Healthcare or laboratory personnel collecting or handling specimens from known or suspected COVID-19 patients (e.g., manipulating cultures from known or suspected COVID-19 patients).
· Morgue workers performing autopsies, which generally involve aerosol-generating procedures, on the bodies of people who are known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of their death.
High Exposure Risk
High exposure risk jobs are those with high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID-19. Workers in this category include:
· Healthcare delivery and support staff (e.g., doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff who must enter patients’ rooms) exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients. (Note: when such workers perform aerosol-generating procedures, their exposure risk level becomes very high.)
· Medical transport workers (e.g., ambulance vehicle operators) moving known or suspected COVID-19 patients in enclosed vehicles.
· Mortuary workers involved in preparing (e.g., for burial or cremation) the bodies of people who are known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of their death.
Medium Exposure Risk
Medium exposure risk jobs include those that require frequent and/or close contact with (i.e., within 6 feet of) people who may be infected with SARS-CoV-2, but who are not known or suspected COVID-19 patients. In areas without ongoing community transmission, workers in this risk group may have frequent contact with travelers who may return from international locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission. In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, workers in this category may have contact be with the general public (e.g., in schools, high-population-density work environments, and some high-volume retail settings).
Lower Exposure Risk (Caution)
Lower exposure risk (caution) jobs are those that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected with SARS-CoV-2 nor frequent close contact with (i.e., within 6 feet of) the general public. Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other coworkers.
