COVID-19 Information for Employers - Keeping Your People Safe

Guidance on Caring for Your People

How do we reduce risk for essential workers on-site?

We recommend following thereopening guidelines established by the CDC for Cleaning and Disinfecting workplaces, as well as guidance from your local and state governments, including but not limited to:

On-site Screening

Daily screening for signs and symptoms of illness and fever
or Daily self-attestation of symptoms and fever-free

People Factors

Training all employees in proper hand washing and work-space cleaning
Training employees in proper mask technique
Establishing a safe space for reporting symptoms
Requiring cloth masks for all employees
Prohibiting in-person meetings
Staggering arrival times
Staggering break times
Staggering lunch times

Environmental Factors

Touchless door or a door-person
Hand washing or hand disinfectant stations upon entry
Plexiglass screens
Max 4 people per elevator, floor markings in 4 corners
Physical reminders for physical distancing, floor markings
Eating at desk instead of cafeteria
Touchless pay options
Increasing cleaning according to OSHA and CDC
Increasing air exchanges, increasing circulation of outside air
Pay special attention to break rooms, eating spaces and cafeterias
Pay special attention to restrooms, including: limiting number of people, encourage closing of toilet lid when flushing, block off some stalls to allow for 6 ft distancing, kick plate for door opening, and touchless soap, faucet, towel dispensers

Can my workers return to the workplace?

We recommend ALL of the following workers continue to follow work from home / stay at home practices:

All non-essential workers
Essential workers showing signs and symptoms of any illness
Essential workers who have had contact with a COVID+ patient within 14 days of symptoms
Vulnerable / High Risk Populations

We recommend following the CDC's guidance to protect the health of employees who must report to a worksite.

Who should get tested?

Individuals who are ill with symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, a new loss of taste or smell, vomiting, or diarrhea and/or sore throat), should be tested with the PCR test. There are some restrictions on who can be tested, but as tests become more available, most symptomatic individuals should be tested so that potential contacts can be investigated
Healthcare workers who may have been exposed to COVID-19, should be tested with the PCR test.
Individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 and have now recovered, may be able to donate serum to be used to treat others with the disease. Contact your local blood bank.

Where can employees get tested from COVID-19

We recommend community PCR testing for symptomatic employees. Testing locations can be found using the links below.

Texas Testing Locations

Louisiana Testing Locations

Oklahoma Testing Locations

What are the two types of COVID-19 test?

PCR Test (Diagnostic Test)	Antibody Test (Serology Test)
Tells you if you are currently infected with COVID-19	May tell you if you have antibodies to the COVID-19 virus
Requires a swab sample from the back of the nose	Still Investigational

Should a negative COVID-19 test be required for COVID+ patients to return to work?

Studies support a symptom-based, rather than a test-based strategy for ending isolation of COVID+ patients. Evidence indicates that patients are no longer contagious after 10 days since symptom onset for mild to moderate illness and 20 days for severe or immunocompromised individuals. Therefore, it is not standard of care to require a negative test before releasing from isolation and returning to work.

“Studies have not found evidence that clinically recovered persons with persistence of viral RNA have transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to others. These findings strengthen the justification for relying on a symptom based, rather than test-based strategy for ending isolation of these patients, so that persons who are by current evidence no longer infectious are not kept unnecessarily isolated and excluded from work or other responsibilities.”
“Although replication-competent virus was not isolated 3 weeks after symptom onset, recovered patients can continue to have SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected in their upper respiratory specimens for up to 12 weeks (Korea CDC, 2020; Li et al., 2020; Xiao et al, 2020). Investigation of 285 “persistently positive” persons, which included 126 persons who had developed recurrent symptoms, found no secondary infections among 790 contacts attributable to contact with these case patients. Efforts to isolate replication-competent virus from 108 of these case patients were unsuccessful (Korea CDC, 2020).” So you may need to hold patients out up to 12 weeks to get a negative test and there is not evidence that they are contagious after 10 days for mild to moderate illness and 20 days for severe or immunocompromised individuals. It is not standard of care to require a negative test before release from isolation.