COVID-19 Employee Illness and Exclusion

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 03/25/2020 03:19 PM CDT
MDH logo

Partnership and Workforce Development – Food Safety Partnership Update

View this as a webpage

View past Updates via RSS Feed

March 25, 2020

These recommendations are for employees of retail food establishments (restaurants, groceries, etc.), lodging facilities (hotels, motels, resorts, etc.), public swimming pools and water parks, manufactured home parks, recreational campgrounds and youth camps. If you have questions, please call the MDH COVID-19 hotline at 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903.

Protect your employees and the public

You want to help protect your employees and the public from COVID-19. These instructions describe how your establishment should handle the following scenarios when you are made aware of changes in your employees’ health.

Employees with a confirmed COVID-19 test

What the employee needs to do

STAY HOME and DO NOT report to work. Follow directions from MDH or local public health and self-isolate at home until all of these are true:

  • Symptoms including fever, cough, or shortness of breath have improved AND
  • At least 7 days have passed since symptoms first appeared AND
  • Fever (100.4°F or higher) has been gone for at least 3 days without the use of fever-reducing medicine.

Once all of these statements are true, the employee may return to work.

What the employee’s healthy coworkers and acquaintances need to do

  • Practice social distancing. Keep at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and other people. See the CDC website for more information on how to protect yourself.
  • Wash hands often.
  • Don’t touch eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Cover your cough.
  • Monitor for symptoms and stay home if you get sick, except to get medical care. Call ahead before visiting your doctor.

What the employee’s healthy household and intimate contacts need to do

Follow directions from public health and quarantine for 14 days after your last contact with the ill person.

Employees with fever, cough, or shortness of breath, but has not been tested

What the employee needs to do

STAY HOME and DO NOT report to work. Self-isolate at home until all of these are true:

  • Symptoms including fever, cough, or shortness of breath have improved AND
  • At least 7 days have passed since symptoms first appeared AND
  • Fever (100.4°F or higher) has been gone for at least 3 days without the use of fever-reducing medicine.

Once all of these statements are true, the employee may return to work.

What the employee’s healthy coworkers and acquaintances need to do

  • Practice social distancing. Keep at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and other people. See the CDC website for more information on how to protect yourself.
  • Wash hands often.
  • Don’t touch eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Cover your cough.
  • Monitor for symptoms and stay home if you get sick, except to get medical care. Call ahead before visiting your doctor.

What the employee’s healthy household and intimate contacts need to do

Incorporate precautions in the home, and monitor for symptoms. Also, limit activities in public for 14 days after your last contact with the ill person.

Healthy employees can protect themselves and others

  • Practice social distancing. Keep at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and other people. See the CDC website for more information on how to protect yourself.
  • Wash hands often.
  • Don’t touch eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Cover your cough.
  • Monitor for symptoms and stay home if you get sick, except to get medical care. Call ahead before visiting your doctor.

Screen your employees for COVID-19 symptoms

It is recommended that you screen all employees prior to allowing them to enter your business. The following questions can be used to screen for COVID-19. 

  1. Have you had close contact with someone who was diagnosed or suspected to have COVID 19 within the last 14 days?
  • Close contact means:
    • A person has been within 6 feet of a COVID-19 case or suspected COVID-19 case for a period of time. Close contact can occur while caring for, living with, or visiting with a COVID-19 case OR
    • A person has had direct contact with body fluids of a COVID-19 case or suspected case from being coughed on, been intimate with, etc.
  1. Have you had a fever (100.4 degrees F or higher), shortness of breath, muscle aches, sore throat, or a new or increased cough in the last 7 days?

If an employee says YES to either of these questions, they should not report to work.

For additional information, please visit the MDH COVID-19 website.