The coronavirus has presented issues in the workplace, but San Bernardino County has guidelines for how businesses should deal with an employee that contracts COVID-19. Reporter Joshua King has more details…
An infected employee must stay home and self-quarantine for at least 10 days following the first appearance of symptoms. Testing and contact tracing then follows for all others who might have come in contact with the employee.
The individual must not have had a fever for 72 hours (without the help of fever-reducing medication) and must show improvement in resolving respiratory symptoms. Once the employee returns to work, he or she should follow all public health recommendations, maintain good hygiene and continue to self-monitor for symptoms.
If an employee has a household member who tests positive, the first step is to determine whether the employee had prolonged exposure in the prior two days to the infected person. If not, the individual may continue to work as long as close contact with the infected household member is avoided. Nonetheless, the employee should still carefully monitor him- or herself for symptoms and immediately contact a healthcare provider if symptoms develop.
If the employee develops no symptoms during this period, he or she may return to work 14 days after the infected individual has been released from isolation. If the employee does develop symptoms, he or she should contact their healthcare provider, who will likely arrange a test.
