This orgainal message was from Tracy Kitchel, but it has been adapted for Extension.
As we head into cold and flu season, I know we’re going to get (and have gotten) questions about how to handle that in relation to COVID-19 and our on-campus presence. Here are a few points to consider as we move forward:
- If employees are showing symptoms of a cold or flu in ways that may overlap with COVID-19 symptoms, they should not report to the office or program sites.
- As employees complete the check-in app, they should receive a “red condition” telling them and their supervisor that the employee should not report to on to the office or program site as one of the questions asks about new symptoms. We should look at this similarly to how we’ve looked at our cleaning protocols in that, out of an abundance of caution, the employee will not be reporting to work.
- Please do not try to “power through” a cold or other illnesses. We would do better to leave our germs at home.
- Remember that as cold and flu season begins to ramp up, more requests for testing will surface, and testing on campus and other sites may get overwhelmed. If you hear consistent issues around testing, please let us know.
- Finally, support your colleagues as best you can as they make these decisions to not report to the office and program sites if they are ill.