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The Employer Handbook Blog
Save yourself a call to your employment lawyer with this easy COVID-19 tool
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tool to help determine how long employees need to isolate, quarantine, or take other steps to prevent spreading COVID-19?
Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled this Quarantine and Isolation Calculator to help people know what to do if they have COVID-19 or have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19.
Yes, people with COVID-19 who have mild symptoms or no symptoms still need to isolate. But, with this tool, they’ll know how long to stay home away from other people. Plus, close contacts with someone with COVID-19 will know if they need to quarantine or take steps like getting tested and wearing a well-fitting mask.
I messed around with the Calculator last night. You get the answers you need in like three clicks. Here’s what you need:
- People with COVID-19 who do not have symptoms need to know the date they were tested for COVID-19.
- People with COVID-19 who have symptoms need to know when their symptoms began.
- Close contacts need to know the date they last came into close contact with someone with COVID-19.
The tool is not intended for moderately or severely ill or immunocompromised people. Moderately ill means experiencing symptoms that affect the lungs like shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and severely ill means requiring hospitalization, intensive care, or ventilation support. Those folks should conduct a doctor instead.
Also, the tool does not apply to cases and close contacts identified in specific settings, like high-risk congregate settings and healthcare settings. Instead, refer to COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation.
Otherwise, save yourself a call to the employment lawyer and consult the Calculator instead to figure out what to do with employees with COVID-19/symptoms or close contact.
*The Employment Lawyer Illuminati does NOT approve of this message. They are busy hatching some other overblown workplace policies ** cough, social media ** to sell you.