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You are receiving this email because you are the license holder/authorized agent of a DHS-licensed or certified program that will be required to have a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.
According to Executive Order 20-48, critical businesses are required to follow guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The MDH/CDC guidance is designed to prevent, mitigate, or respond to the transmission of COVID-19.
Executive Order 20-74, signed by Gov. Walz on June 5, 2020, requires all critical businesses that were allowed to operate during the recent “stay at home” orders to develop and implement a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan (“Plan”) that describes how your business will implement specific health and safety practices in compliance with MDH and CDC guidelines.
The Executive Order also requires the Department of Human Services to develop guidance and a Plan template that providers can use to develop their COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. The guidance and template are designed to help you create a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and recognize the health and safety licensing requirements already required of your program. The Licensing Division worked with the Department of Labor and Industry to create guidance and templates for the following provider groups: child care; residential services, and nonresidential services. These documents are available on the Licensing Division’s COVID-19 website.
Critical businesses must develop the Plan by June 29, 2020.
You do not need to send the completed plan to your licensor for review or approval. However, in order to ensure compliance with the requirements of Executive Order 20-74, the Commissioner is enacting the following temporary new licensing requirements during the peacetime emergency that require providers to:
- develop and implement a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan that includes at least the topics included in the optional templates, or, if you have already created such a Plan, you must ensure it addresses all required elements set forth in the Guidance and Optional Template;
- train staff, other caregivers, and volunteers on the plan and ensure they are capable of implementing it;
- post the plan in a prominent place and make it accessible to staff, caregivers, and volunteers who need to review it;
- review and update the plan as guidance evolves and provide updates to staff, caregivers, and volunteers about any changes;
- notify service recipients (and/or their families, legal representative, or case manager, as appropriate) about the plan and offer to give them a copy; and
- make the plan available to the Commissioner upon request.
To ensure that you are complying with Executive Order 20-74, you will need to submit verification to DHS by July 31, 2020 that you have completed a plan, posted it, and trained staff on it. If you have more than 1 license, you will need to submit verification for each licensed program. DHS will send an email the week of July 6, 2020 with instructions on how to submit this verification. You do not need to send the completed plan to DHS for review or approval.
- June 29: License holders must have plan completed
- Week of July 6: DHS will send an email with instructions on submitting plan verification
- July 31: Deadline for license holders to submit plan verification
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