1. Instruct the positive employee to stay home and isolate/call 119
Individuals who are infected with COVID-19 must not report to work during the isolation period. They must isolate at home for 10 days after symptoms develop, plus at least 3 additional days without any symptoms. For people that do not develop any symptoms, you need to isolate for 10 days after you were tested for COVID-19 (not when you got the result). Even if the individual is fully vaccinated for COVID-19, they must isolate for at least 10 days if they test positive, plus at least 3 additional days without any symptoms. The Health Department may contact the positive employee to provide information and conduct contact tracing. You must protect the confidentiality of your employee. Legally, you cannot tell other staff or third parties the employee’s name or health information.
Seek medical care immediately if you have any of these danger signs:
• Trouble breathing (shortness of breath or difficult to breath)
• Ongoing chest pain or chest feels tight like someone sitting on it
• Severe headache for a few days
• Appears confused or unable to stay awake or wake up
• Pale, grey or blue coloured skin, lips or fingernails
• Feeling progressively weaker
2. Determine when the person was at the facility while contagious.
If the person has symptoms, the contagious period starts 2 days before symptoms first began and goes until the person begins isolating at home away from others. If the person does not have any symptoms, the contagious period starts 2 days before the COVID-19 test was taken and goes until the person begins isolating at home. Determine the dates that others were at risk of exposure (i.e. what dates the person was on site/at work while contagious).
3. Determine who was a “close contact” of the positive person while they were contagious.
A “close contact” is someone who was within 1 meter of a person with COVID-19 during their contagious period for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, either with or without wearing a mask. Individual interactions closer than 6 feet to the COVID-19 positive person should be added up for a total number of minutes of exposure that occurred during a 24-hour period (i.e. three separate 5-minute exposures would total 15 minutes). Review schedules to see who was at the facility on the dates of potential exposure. Talk to the positive employee and watch surveillance video, if available, to determine who met the close contact criteria.
4. Inform your close contacts.
If you have COVID-19, anyone that you have been in close contact with before and while you are sick is at risk of developing COVID-19 too (even if you do not have symptoms). Close contact is when you have had physical contact (such as shaking hands) or spent time together in close distance to someone infected with COVID-19.
If you are a confirmed case of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health will ask you to tell them the name and contact details of everyone that you have had close contact with recently. The Ministry of Health will then make contact with close contacts via SMS or phone call and let them know that they might have been exposed to COVID-19 and that they need to quarantine immediately. This is called contact tracing.
If you are a probable case, please follow Ministry of Health guidance on how to inform close contacts that they might have been exposed to COVID-19. If possible, you can inform them via SMS or phone call and let them know they need to quarantine immediately.
5. Notify other potentially impacted people.
Inform other employees and those who may have had casual contact with the COVID-19 positive individual that there was a positive case at your facility, while protecting the privacy of the positive person (i.e. inform people who were on site that there was a COVID-19 positive person there on specified date(s)). Let them know that any close contacts who potentially had a higher risk exposure have been identified and will be notified directly. If they are not notified directly of an exposure, they are considered low risk – similar to any time a person goes out in any public setting (such as the grocery store) when there is a high level of community transmission. These lower risk individuals should monitor for symptoms and seek testing if they develop symptoms in the 14 days following potential exposure.
6. Clean, disinfect, and ventilate the facility.
If less than 24 hours have passed since the sick/diagnosed person has been there, open doors and windows and use fans to increase air circulation and clean and disinfect the area, focusing on frequently touched surfaces in offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment (tablets, touch screens, keyboards, remote controls, etc.). If more than 24 hours have passed, cleaning is enough. If more than 3 days have passed, no additional cleaning or disinfecting is needed.