Here is our revised company policy on the support of employee health. It’s been a year and a half since any of us had covid-19, but here in our New England community, this spring we have seen coughs that linger for weeks, a rash of stomach flu, and air quality warnings for ozone (a new thing for us!). We made a few updates to our policy.
In Support of Employee Health
In the workplace:
• fresh air levels above 30 cfm/person (CO2 below 800 ppm)
• HEPA air purifiers above 60 cfm/person
• HEPA air filtration of incoming fresh air when there is hazardous wildfire smoke
• humidification in winter to maintain 40% RH minimum (see Dec. 1st, 2022 post)
• air conditioning, which includes dehumidification, in summer
• masks always allowed at each person’s discretion
Out of the workplace:
• we all take appropriate precautions depending on our risk criteria, age, vulnerability, and social needs
• we all sometimes check CO2 levels when going into questionable buildings, and want to be “in the green”
• the company provides a variety of masks for employee use to combat infectious diseases, wildfire smoke, pollen, dust, etc.
COVID-19 testing:
• The company provides InBios antigen tests for use by employees before coming into the office when (1) local virus levels are above the “low” level, or (2) there has been exposure to someone with covid-19, or (3) we feel we are starting to come down with a communicable disease.
During an illness:
• we stay home if we feel we might be infectious to others, and work from home if appropriate
• while we are home, we check for a fever, and we take a covid-19 antigen test every other day for the first ten days if our symptoms fit a possible covid-19 infection (for a current symptoms list, see below)
• if it’s covid-19, we encourage reducing the risk of spreading it to other family members by following the advice of this blog (see Feb. 9th, 2023 post)
We return after an illness:
• for most illnesses, after 24 hours of feeling good and with no fever, and
• for norovirus (or any type of stomach flu), 48 hours after symptoms resolve for the employee. (Note that we are treating all stomach flu as norovirus, which the CDC says is responsible for 60% of U.S. cases.) If the employee has not gotten sick, then wait 48 hours after all household members are recovered (since the incubation period is 12-48 hours), and
• if it was covid-19, after two negative antigen tests, 24 hours apart, and
• when we think we are done with transmissible symptoms, which is tricky. Per my nurse friend, and updated for covid-19 variant KP-2 (May 2024): transmissible symptoms for all illnesses include
* fever or chills,
* cough,
* sinus congestion,
* scratchy or sore throat,
* runny nose,
* chest congestion,
* shortness of breath (difficulty breathing),
* headache,
* diarrhea,
* nausea or vomiting.
Loss of taste/smell, fatigue, brain fog, or loss of appetite do not qualify as transmissible symptoms, nor does a lingering cough after 72 hours. However, if we think a lingering cough might mean we are contagious, we are welcome to be in the office with an N95 or better mask.
A Good Reference for Communicable Diseases
Here is a very handy chart with all the basic information. We had some contact with these folks a few years ago to suggest some covid-19 revisions.
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