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Home My WebLink AboutRE: COVID-19 Mike Plane From:Josh Baird Sent:Monday, January 24, 2022 11:17 To:Gretchen Scott; Cailin Gibson Cc:Ansina Durham; Kristen Kohntopp; PT-ELT Subject:RE: COVID-19 Gretchen, That is good to know, thanks for the clarification. I’ll share that with my team. HR is doing amazing things right now. I recognize you are slammed between crazy numbers of open positions, COVID, and many new members of your team. I appreciate all you do. Thanks for keeping things running as smooth as you can, it doesn’t go unnoticed! Joshua R. Baird city engineer | city of twin falls phone: (208) 735-7273 jbaird@tfid.org From: Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2022 11:09 AM To: Josh Baird <JBaird@tfid.org>; Cailin Gibson <cgibson@tfid.org> Cc: Ansina Durham <adurham@tfid.org>; Kristen Kohntopp <kkohntopp@tfid.org>; PT-ELT <PT-ELT@tfid.org> Subject: RE: COVID-19 Hi Josh, There are two pieces of the CDC that we are not following.  The first being that we consider a positive COVID person in your home to be a constant exposure and therefore require quarantine for 5 days. (We have been consistent with this direction across the organization and we have many examples of vaccinated persons testing positive once the COVID virus is in the home. This is also consistent with St. Luke’s direction that if one person in the house is positive they assume everyone is.)  The second is that we do not consider brief exposure (15 minutes) a reason to quarantine. We are asking that persons only test if symptomatic and mask once they return to work. Regardless of vaccination status. The CDC website and guidelines have changed weekly and we are doing our best to stay current, adaptable, and reasonable. The fact is that in each case we have to work through the vaccination status and symptoms. 1 From: Josh Baird <JBaird@tfid.org> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2022 10:53 AM To: Cailin Gibson <cgibson@tfid.org> Cc: Ansina Durham <adurham@tfid.org>; Kristen Kohntopp <kkohntopp@tfid.org>; Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org>; PT-ELT <PT-ELT@tfid.org> Subject: RE: COVID-19 Thanks Cailin for getting back to me. I’ll follow the request and stay home until Thursday. nd I was under the impression the City was following CDC guidelines and that is what I have been telling City staff on the 2 floor of City Hall. I gleaned this from recent conversations from HR, as well as from Core and EMT leadership meetings I have been attending. Is that correct, or am I mistaken? This is what I read from the CDC website: Quarantine Quarantine is a strategy used to prevent transmission of COVID-19 by keeping people who have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 apart from others. Who does not need to quarantine? If you had close contact with someone with COVID-19 and you are in one of the following groups, you do not need to quarantine.  You are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines.  You had confirmed COVID-19 within the last 90 days (meaning you tested positive using a viral test). You should wear a well-fitting mask around others for 10 days from the date of your last close contact with someone with COVID-19 (the date of last close contact is considered day 0). Get tested at least 5 days after you last had close contact with someone with COVID-19. If you test positive or develop COVID-19 symptoms, isolate from other people and follow recommendations in the Isolation section below. If you tested positive for COVID-19 with a viral test within the previous 90 days and subsequently recovered and remain without COVID-19 symptoms, you do not need to quarantine or get tested after close contact. You should wear a well-fitting mask around others for 10 days from the date of your last close contact with someone with COVID-19 (the date of last close contact is considered day 0). Based upon that paragraph, it is my understanding a person who is up to date on COVID-19 vaccines would not need to quarantine unless they had symptoms themselves. While I am personally disappointed I am not allowed to come to work until Thursday, I am more concerned as a leader to know how to inform and instruct my team and what the current City policy is. It is not clear to me. Gretchen sent the attached email to PT-EMT on 9/9/2021 outlining a draft protocol asking for responses. I gave my thoughts a few days later, but don’t recall ever seeing a final protocol being sent out. As such, I assumed we were just accepting the ever-changing CDC guidelines as our standard. However, based 2 upon my not being allowed to come to work and after reading the paragraph above, I don’t see how we are following CDC guidelines. I am open for someone explaining to me why my interpretation is wrong. In my opinion, our lack of clarity causes confusion, frustration, and annoyance from employees. If the guidance is not clear, I am concerned the City might open itself up to potential grievances. Given our low morale, especially in Engineering, it would be nice to give clear guidance and stick with it. I have no problem with ensuring the policy is followed as long I have access to it and understand it. As a side note, I plan to NOT quarantine (except for work at the City) and attend activities with a mask such as children’s activities and games. As a leader of the organization, I try to be consistent and set a good example of what we hope or expect all employees to do. Some who might see me out and about might consider me being hypocritical by not quarantining when the City requires me to. However, as I stated above, I feel I AM being consistent with the CDC guidelines. Can someone please either provide me the guidance we are supposed to be following or explain why I need to quarantine assuming we are following CDC guidelines? Thanks! Joshua R. Baird city engineer | city of twin falls phone: (208) 735-7273 jbaird@tfid.org From: Cailin Gibson <cgibson@tfid.org> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2022 8:11 AM To: Josh Baird <JBaird@tfid.org> Cc: Ansina Durham <adurham@tfid.org>; Kristen Kohntopp <kkohntopp@tfid.org>; Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org> Subject: RE: COVID-19 Good morning, You will need to stay home for 5 days starting the day after your daughter tested positive. You can return to work on the th 6 day 1/27/22. Kind regards, Cailin Gibson Human Resources Recruitment Coordinator cgibson@tfid.org From: Josh Baird <JBaird@tfid.org> Sent: Friday, January 21, 2022 9:47 PM To: Cailin Gibson <cgibson@tfid.org> Cc: Ansina Durham <adurham@tfid.org>; Kristen Kohntopp <kkohntopp@tfid.org>; Gretchen Scott <Gscott@tfid.org> Subject: COVID-19 Cailin, 3 My daughter tested positive for COVID-19 today. I’m not sure what the protocol is for me. I’m vaccinated and received the booster. Please let me know what I need to do for Monday. Thanks! Joshua R. Baird city engineer | city of twin falls phone: (208) 735-7273 jbaird@tfid.org 4