Federal Health and Safety Orders — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidance

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CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Return-to-Work Guidelines

The CDC recently issued interim safety guidelines for critical infrastructure workers who may have been exposed to a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. Previous CDC recommendations directed exposed employees to self-quarantine for 14 days to ensure that they not expose others.

To ensure continuity of operations of essential functions, the CDC advises that critical infrastructure workers be permitted to continue working following potential exposure to COVID-19, as long as they do not exhibit symptoms and precautions are taken to protect them in the community.

On May 14, the CDC issued general guidance for six industries. The guidance is int he form of six one page "decision trees" with flow charts indicating what steps are recommended to have in place before reopening. The six industries are:

1. Workplaces https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community/workplace-decision-tree.pdf

2. Schools https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/Schools-Decision-Tree.pdf

3. Youth programs https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/Camps-Decision-Tree.pdf

4. Childcare centers https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/Childcare-Decision-Tree.pdf

5. Mass transit systems https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/pdf/MassTransit-DecisionTree.pdf

6. Restaurants and bars https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community/restaurants-and-bars-decision-tree.pdf

The guidance states that businesses must comply with all state and local stay at home orders and doesn't set a timeline for reopening. All businesses should be prepared to protect employees at high risk for exposure, including those over the age of 65 and with underlying medical conditions although the guidance doesn't define what that protection would entail although it could include allowing vulnerable workers to continue to telework if possible.

Health and Safety Actions

For all establishments the CDC decision trees recommend:

1. Promotion of healthy hygiene practices including hand washing and face masks; 2. Intensified cleaning, disinfection, sanitization and ventilation; 3. Encourage social distancing; 4. Training employees on health and safety protocols.

For all establishments the CDC recommends health monitoring which include:

1. Develop procedures to check for symptoms "daily upon arrival, as needed"; 2. Encourage anyone who is sick to stay home; 3. Plan for illness in employees or their children; 4. Regularly communicate and monitor developments with local authorities and employees; 5. Monitor absences and have flexible leave policies;

The decision tress provide examples of ways to encourage social distancing and enhance spacing between employees. These measures include physical barriers, changing layouts of workspaces, encouraging telework, closing or limiting communal areas, staggering shifts and breaks, and limiting large events. The social distancing recommendations are "as feasible" and the CDC contemplates that some businesses may not be able to socially distance.

The CDC guidelines track and provide similar guidance as does the recently issued State of California industry specific guidance. See below section Gov. Newsom's Plan to Reopen the State. Businesses should be familiar with all federal and state guidelines and work to develop return to work plans that incorporate, as feasible, guidance from federal, state and local authorities.

Critical Infrastructure Workers

The CDC says “critical infrastructure sector” workers include:

• federal, state and local law enforcement
• employees of 911 call centers
• government and private sector hazardous material responders
• janitorial and other custodial staff
• workers –– including contracted vendors –– in food and agriculture, critical manufacturing, information technology, transportation, energy and government facilities.

The list isn’t exhaustive and leaves much to interpretation.

Practice Tip: If your workforce is an essential business as defined by Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order N-33-20 as part of the critical infrastructure sector, the CDC guidelines probably apply to you.

Potential Exposure

The CDC defines potential exposure as a household contact or having close contact (within 6 feet) with an individual with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. Also, if you had contact with a potentially exposed individual within 48 hours of when that person experienced symptoms, you were potentially exposed.

Screening and Monitoring Exposed Critical Infrastructure Workers

Critical infrastructure workers who have been exposed to the virus but are not showing symptoms should follow these practices before and during their work shift:

• Prescreen: The employer takes the employee’s temperature and assesses symptoms before allowing him or her to start work. Ideally, the temperature check should occur before the worker enters the facility.
• Monitor Regularly: After passing the temperature and symptoms check, the employee should self-monitor under supervision of the employer’s occupational health program.
• Wear a Mask: While in the workplace, the employee should wear a face mask for 14 days after the last exposure. Employers may issue face masks or approve employee-supplied cloth face coverings in the event of shortages.
• Maintain Social Distance: The employee should remain 6 feet away from other workers as work duties permit.
• Clean and Disinfect Workspaces Routinely: Include all areas –– offices, bathrooms, common areas, shared electronic equipment.

If the employee becomes sick during the day, he or she should be sent home immediately. The workspace should be cleaned and disinfected, and information should be collected about who had contact with the ill worker when the employee had symptoms, and two days before.

We will monitor the CDC, and update this guide when state, county or city orders are issued.

Practice Tip: Because much remains unknown about how COVID-19 is transmitted and when infected individuals are most likely to infect others, employers should consider sending employees home if they are suspected of having been exposed to COVID-19, and advise them to self-quarantine to minimize the risk to others in the workplace.

CDC, State and Local Guidelines for Face Masks

The CDC recommends the use of nonmedical masks or “cloth face coverings” to help stem the spread of COVID-19. It also recommends that cloth face coverings be worn in public places where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (for example, grocery stores and pharmacies). Cloth face coverings are for nonmedical settings –– they are not surgical masks or N95 respirators.

On April 1, the California Department of Health offered additional guidance about face coverings. The department made clear that if a city or county implements policies promoting the use of face coverings, it should be mindful not to increase the demand for medical-grade respirators, such as N95 and surgical masks, which are in short supply and unnecessary for nonprofessionals.

In response to the department’s guidance, the county of San Diego issued an addendum to its health and safety order. As of April 4, all employees who may have contact with the public in a grocery store, pharmacy or drug store, convenience store, restaurant or other business establishment that serves food must wear a cloth face covering or face mask.

Riverside County followed with a broader order requiring all persons, including essential workers, to wear face coverings. The order specifies that face coverings may include scarves made of dense fabric, bandanas, neck gaiters or other fabric designs. In compliance with guidance from the Department of Public Health, the order specifically discourages individuals, including essential workers, from using personal protective equipment, including N95 masks, for nonmedical reasons.

The city of Los Angeles also issued an executive order mandating that essential workers wear face coverings, and requiring employers to provide them to their employees. Employers must allow essential workers to wash their hands every 30 minutes. The Los Angeles order also requires individuals entering into essential businesses such as grocery stores to wear face coverings for worker safety.

We anticipate that other counties will recommend the use of face coverings, and the recommendations could become mandates as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increases.

Employers deemed essential should review orders often to ensure that their employees comply with county mandates about face coverings and abide by the CDC guidelines in their scope of work.

For further CDC COVID-19 information see https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

SEE ALSO

• Federal and California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Acts
• State and Local Workplace Safety Orders

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