CDC Guidelines

Clean your hands often

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

Avoid close contact

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Stay home as much as possible.
• Put distance between yourself and other people.
• Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to spread virus.
• Keeping distance from others is especially important for people who are at higher risk of getting very sick.

Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others

• You could spread COVID-19 to others even if you do not feel sick.
• Everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities.
  • Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.
• The cloth face cover is meant to protect other people in case you are infected.
• Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker.
• Continue to keep about 6 feet between yourself and others. The cloth face cover is not a substitute for social distancing.

Cover coughs and sneezes

• If you are in a private setting and do not have on your cloth face covering, remember to always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow.
• Throw used tissues in the trash.
• Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not readily available, clean your hands with a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

Clean and disinfect

• Clean AND disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.
• If surfaces are dirty, clean them: Use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.

To disinfect:

Most common EPA-registered household disinfectants will work. Use disinfectants appropriate for the surface.

Options include:

• Diluting your household bleach.
  To make a bleach solution, mix:
  • 5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) bleach per gallon of water
    OR
  • 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water
• Follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and proper ventilation. Check to ensure the product is not past its expiration date. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. Unexpired household bleach will be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted.
• Alcohol solutions.
  Ensure solution has at least 70% alcohol.
• Other common EPA-registered household disinfectants.
  Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are expected to be effective against COVID-19 based on data for harder to kill viruses. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for all cleaning and disinfection products (e.g., concentration, application method and contact time, etc.).

Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act

Under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, employees may be entitled to public health emergency leave (PHEL). The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act takes effect on April 1, 2020 and expires on December 31, 2020.

Employee Eligibility:

To be eligible for PHEL, an employee must have worked for BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS for at least 30 calendar days prior to the leave.

Use of PHEL:

Eligible employees may use up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to care for their child under 18 years of age if their school or place of care has been closed, or their childcare provider is unavailable, due to a public health emergency.

Pay During Leave:

The first 10 days of PHEL may be unpaid, but the employee may elect to substitute any accrued paid leave, including emergency paid sick leave, during this period. Employees will be paid for PHEL after the first 10 days, at a rate of at least two-thirds their regular rate of pay, up to a maximum of $200 per day.

Protection of Group Health Insurance Benefits:

During leave under this policy, eligible employees are entitled to receive group health plan coverage on the same terms and conditions as if they had continued to work.

Job Restoration:

At the end of PHEL leave, employees are generally entitled to return to the same or equivalent position they had when the leave began. However, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS may be exempt from this requirement if it has fewer than 25 employees and:

• The employee’s position doesn’t exist after PHEL due to economic conditions or other changes in operating conditions that affect employment and were caused by a public health emergency during the period of leave;

• BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS makes reasonable efforts to restore the employee to a position equivalent to the position the employee held before the leave; and

• BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS makes reasonable efforts to contact the employee if an equivalent position becomes available within the next year.

Notice of Eligibility for, and Designation of, Leave:

Employees requesting leave are entitled to receive written notice from BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS  telling them whether they are eligible for PHEL and, if not eligible, the reasons why they are not eligible. When eligible for leave, employees are entitled to receive written notice of: (1) their rights and responsibilities in connection with such leave; (2) the BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS’s designation of leave as PHEL-qualifying or non-qualifying, if not PHEL-qualifying, the reasons why; and (3) the amount of leave, if known, that will be counted against the employee’s leave entitlement.

Retaliation Prohibited:

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS  will not take adverse action against an employee for exercising their rights under the law.

If you have questions about this policy,  ELISSARH JACKSON