COVID-19 Please Be Prepared

Department of Social and Health Service’s Developmental Disabilities Administration sent this bulletin at 02/22/2021 08:41 AM PST

Developmental Disabilities Administration

February 22, 2021

Dear Community Residential Support Service providers:

We’ve been informed by our partners at RCS that not all agencies are fully prepared for COVID-19 positives. It is important that all providers are prepared to react quickly to positive COVID-19 cases in staff and clients. Preparation should begin now; do not wait for positive cases.

In order to prepare:

Make sure you have enough Personal Protective Equipment. See DDA Process for Procuring Personal Protective Equipment, which includes frequently asked questions and PPE resources.
Have a policy for infection control and train all staff on how to implement it. See WAC 388-101D-0060 for policy requirements related to emergency response. For Group Training Homes, infection control practice requirements can be found in WAC 388-101D 0645.
Monitor the systems you put into place. You can use the Infection Control/Response Quality Assurance Tool on the DDA Residential Provider Resource page to help assure you have good systems in place. Look for it under “Tools.”