Employee isolation time with Covid is the new boss headache

Barbara Sibley’s four restaurants in New York had already gone through the initial Covid-19 wave in town, the pre-vaccination outbreak last winter, and the peak of the delta variant in summer, when it suddenly happened: fearing a big outbreak and coping Labor problems After one of her employees became ill from Covid-19, she temporarily closed one of her homes.

That was just the beginning of Sibley’s worries. She also had to assess how long the employee, who was fully vaccinated, should be isolated before returning to work. And the messages from public health experts were not entirely clear.

In the first days of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that most people who tested positive for the coronavirus isolate themselves for 14 days. Later, he reduced the isolation recommendation to ten days.

But these policies were based on data from unvaccinated individuals and were implemented before the widespread availability of rapid trials. A growing number of health and policy professionals now suggest that people who have been vaccinated can end isolation after five to seven days, as long as they have no symptoms and test negative.

On Thursday (23), the CDC reduced, in some circumstances, the number of days of isolation recommended for health workers who tested positive but did not address other professions.

“Each expert has been calling for shorter periods of isolation, so it’s a good measure, but it’s shortsighted not to apply it generally: schools, colleges, sports, Broadway theaters, restaurants, airlines,” said Joseph Allen, associate professor at the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University. “Everyone is facing this same problem of having to isolate people for extended periods without the option of ‘test to return’.”

The CDC said on Thursday that it “continues to evaluate isolation and quarantine recommendations for the general population” as it learns about the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and that it “will inform the public as needed”.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Friday that fully vaccinated critical workers will be able to return five days after testing positive, as long as they have no symptoms or their symptoms are improving, and they do not have a fever for 72 hours. These workers will also need to wear masks, she said.

Omicron has intensified the shortage of workers in all sectors, and the increase in cases has disrupted travel over Christmas holidays, harming thousands of customers and underlining the economic price of isolation for employees. Some economists are already warning about the potential effect the closures could have on consumer spending.

With scientific understanding of the coronavirus advancing faster than public health guidelines, and with much to learn about the omicron variant, some companies feel compelled to act as public health experts.

“If I were an employer, I wouldn’t go outside the CDC’s recommendations,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, emergency physician and associate dean at Brown University’s School of Public Health. “That’s why we need the CDC to update their recommendations if they feel science supports them.”

Requiring longer periods of isolation could also create obstacles for people to be tested, according to Dr Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health. “There’s going to be a lot of people who, if they have mild symptoms, aren’t going to test themselves or report them, because it’s really serious to sit still for ten days,” he said.

In industries where employees can work remotely, such as technology, companies seem to feel little need to move faster than CDC. Even companies that need large numbers of on-site workers, such as Target, Kroger and DoorDash, say they continue to follow the agency’s recommendations.

The National Football League (NFL) now allows vaccinated players who test positive to return the next day as long as they test negative twice. It has also eliminated weekly testing for vaccinated players who do not show symptoms, with its medical director saying the pandemic has reached a stage where vaccinated players are not required to take action if they are feeling healthy.

Requests to reduce the isolation period could increase if infections increase during the holidays, as expected. Broadway shows have already canceled shows over Christmas. The privately owned CityMD urgent care clinic temporarily closed 19 locations in New York and New Jersey due to lack of staff. At least a dozen restaurants in New York have temporarily closed because of positive tests.

“I think a lot of companies are anticipating major disruption next month and are trying to put policies in place now because they know a lot of their employees are going to be infected,” Jha said.

The US may be guided by policy changes abroad. The United Kingdom said on Wednesday (22) it would reduce the period of isolation from ten to seven days for people who show symptoms of Covid.

After the British government lifted nearly all pandemic restrictions in July, hundreds of thousands of workers were tracked by the National Health Service’s tracking app and ordered to isolate themselves because they had been exposed to the coronavirus. Businesses complained of staff shortages, and economists said that tracking may have slowed economic growth in July.

In the United States, new tools to help manage the pandemic are on the way.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week authorized two drugs to treat Covid-19, from Pfizer and Merck. These treatments have had the proven ability to stave off serious illness and the potential to reduce transmission of the virus, but the supply of the two pills, especially Pfizer’s, will be limited in the coming months.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday (21) that he intended to invoke the Defense Production Act to purchase and distribute 500 million rapid tests of antigen, a crucial tool for detecting transmissibility, although those tests will not be available for weeks or most.

If the combination of antiviral pills and rapid tests can get people back to work faster, “it’s a huge economic advantage,” said Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research.

But some employers remain cautious. Molly Moon Neitzel, who owns a Seattle ice cream company with just over 100 employees, said she had adopted conservative privacy guidelines.

“I’m in favor of protecting people, rather than getting them back to work right away,” he said, adding that if it was summer and his company was busier he could consider a shorter period of isolation. “It’s the slowest time of year for an ice cream company, so it’s in my favor.”

Some public health experts fear that if the CDC shortens its isolation guidelines, employers will pressure workers to return before they are fully recovered.

“What I don’t want is for this to be used as an excuse to force people to come back even if they’re not well,” said Brown’s Ranney.

Even with clearer guidelines, implementing policies can be tricky. While some experts suggest different isolation rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated employees, some companies still don’t have a system to track which workers received the vaccine. The question of whether the CDC will modify its definition of fully vaccinated to include booster shots adds a layer of complexity.

It’s not just sick employees who may have to stay home: companies are also discussing whether vaccinated workers should quarantine if they come into contact with someone with Covid, which CDC guidelines do not require.

_{translation of Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}