COVID-19 update

We hope you had a happy and healthy Labor Day weekend.

While the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended months ago, the virus is and will continue to be present in our communities. Family members, friends, colleagues and clientele are still becoming ill from the virus, so we can all be potentially exposed and get sick as we go about our personal and work lives. Over the past month, the number of COVID-19 cases has been gradually increasing in most parts of the state. The California Department of Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard summarizes the current status: https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/

With the above conditions in mind, I wanted to take a moment to remind us all of the COVID-19 practices that we all need to continue to follow in the workplace.

• The most important thing you can remember to do is STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK. Employees are advised to stay home if they have symptoms of any infectious illness or are feeling sick. As always, contact your supervisor if you need to take sick leave or work from home.
• If you do test positive for COVID-19, you need to report that positive test result, so we can advise on when you can return to work and assess the potential that other employees or clientele that you work with may have been exposed.
• The best way to report symptoms or positive test results is the symptom screening report survey (http://ucanr.edu/symptomscreening).
• Employees who test positive will need to stay away from the workplace and isolate at home for at least 5 days. See the Quarantine, Isolation, and Return to Work chart.
• Our COVID-19 response team reaches out to each person who tests positive for COVID-19 and provides specific instructions. In some cases, we notify other employees at a worksite that they may have been exposed, while protecting the privacy of the individual who tested positive.
• If you have general questions about COVID-19 or UC ANR's procedures, please check the website http://ucanr.edu/covid19 or email ehs@ucanr.edu.

While public health orders and other emergency measures have ended, some basic workplace safety rules to prevent disease transmission remain in effect.

Masks and testing are not mandatory in most cases, but we still must make masks available and provide access to testing if there are workplace exposures. We will continue to share resources for local testing or provide self-administered tests to locations to distribute as needed - please contact your location's Safety Coordinator if you need a test. Investigation of positive COVID-19 cases is required to determine if additional exposures may have occurred at work. All employees must receive COVID-19 prevention training. The COVID-19 prevention plans that were developed for each ANR location must be maintained. Employees are encouraged to maintain recommended booster vaccinations or opt out.

These workplace safety procedures can be expected to continue to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases in ANR workplaces statewide. Thank you for continuing to monitor your health and to take routine measures to keep yourself and your colleagues healthy and safe.

Brian Oatman 
Director, Risk & Safety

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