Chamber reminds businesses of proper response if employees test positive for COVID-19
Oct 19, 2020 07:11AM ● By Editor
By Jim Boyd, Executive Director of the Cook County Chamber of Commerce - October 18, 2020
With the number of positive tests for COVID-19 in Cook County rising, it is a good time to review the guidance from Grace Grinager of Cook County Public Health on what to do if one of your employees tests positive:
Contact:
1. Talk first to public health -- before putting anything on social media. Public Health can give advice on testing and quarantine for affected employees. You can contact Public Health at 218-387-3605.
2. Some employees won’t need to test or quarantine if they weren’t high risk contacts (within six feet for 15 minutes or more)
3. Those employees who were high risk contacts will need to be tested at a very specific time (5-7 days post exposure), which Public Health can help figure out. Sawtooth Mountain Clinic won’t know when employees should test, which is why employers should call public health first. The folks at Public HEalth can facilitate communication with the contacts and the clinic.
4. You cannot test out of quarantine. Even after a negative test, high risk contacts need a full 14 day quarantine before they can come back to work.
5. Usually, the only reason to close down would be if enough staff were in quarantine that you couldn’t appropriately staff your operations
Contact:
Jim Boyd
Executive Director
Cook County Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 805
Grand Marais, MN 55604
218-370-9665 (office/cell)
218-387-2466 (home)
