Thursday, April 8
The state has identified 535,182 cases of COVID-19 as of today, with 510,959 of these patients no longer required to be isolated. 6,922 deaths have been reported. For more information on the current situation, visit the Minnesota Department of Health website.
At the bottom of this email, you will find Met Council workforce statistics related to COVID-19 leave that have been reported to the Employee Resource Center.
Do you have thoughts or concerns on the content or frequency of these COVID-19 update emails? We would love to hear your feedback through the online COVID-19 form, so we can make sure these emails are providing the most useful and timely information to staff.
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At a glance
What you need to know this week:
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Acting Regional Administrator Mary Bogie shares a message with staff regarding the hate crimes and discrimination people of Asian descent have faced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Gov. Walz announced today that Minnesota has administered more than 3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
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Plans are in place to offer COVID-19 vaccination at two Met Council facilities sometime in April.
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We are using our emergency notification system, which uses contact information from Employee Self Service, to notify employees of urgent opportunities to get the vaccine.
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Reminder: COVID-19 Leave can be used if you have a reaction to the vaccine and need to recuperate. It cannot be used for you to get the vaccine.
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Last week, staff from Regional Administration and the central office heard from leaders on pandemic planning during a one-hour, online town hall. If you missed the discussion, you can watch the recording on Stream.
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Audio conferencing is now available in Microsoft Teams, adding a local phone number for attendees – internal or external to the Met Council – to call into a Teams meeting.
Read on for more about these updates.
Stand up against harassment, racial violence
Across the nation, we are experiencing a disturbing trend towards violence that is targeting people who originate or descend from countries in Asia or Pacific islands. These brutal and awful acts of hate are coming on top of the overt and subtle discrimination people of Asian descent have faced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said last year when announcing anti-discrimination resources for Asian Americans, “There’s a distinct pattern in our nation’s history of increased discrimination during uncertain and trying times, of needing someone to blame. This is unacceptable and, as Minnesotans, we must work to break this cycle.”
On behalf of myself and Council leaders, we want to be clear we stand united in this purpose – we will not tolerate any discrimination or racially disrespectful treatment of our employees, customers, or members of our communities. It’s on all of us to be part of the change.
We encourage you to report anything you see, through the EthicsPoint portal or directly to the Office of Equal Opportunity, and we encourage you to find ways to support one another and call out instances that you experience. Learn more about ways to effectively and safely intervene so you are prepared if you observe harassment and feel it is safe to help.
Take care of yourselves and be safe. Be kind and supportive to one another.
Mary
Minnesota reaches 3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered
Gov. Tim Walz announced today that Minnesota has administered more than 3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. The milestone comes exactly three weeks after the state announced 2 million doses administered on March 18. The state announced the first million doses administered on February 19.
Every Minnesotan 16 years of age and older is eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The state has directed providers to still prioritize vaccine appointments for people most at risk of getting COVID-19, or those who could develop severe illness if infected. Providers then have the flexibility to provide available appointments to other eligible Minnesotans.
This week, Gov. Walz launched an outreach effort focused on connecting frontline workers in critical industries to the resources they need to get vaccinated. In the coming weeks, workers in priority frontline sectors will be vaccinated at community vaccination sites, starting with workers in the food service industry.
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Update your ESS contact information to get vaccine notifications
Plans are in place to offer COVID-19 vaccination at two Met Council facilities sometime in April. As soon as we receive confirmation from the State of Minnesota regarding doses and timing, we will use the Met Council’s emergency notification system to offer you an opportunity to schedule an appointment. We also use this notification system when partners contact the Met Council letting us know about extra doses they have of the COVID-19 vaccine.
- We will notify you by texting your mobile device, calling you by phone, and sending a message to your email. If you respond that you are available, we will follow up to connect you to the appointment.
- Make sure you carefully read the instructions included in the message and reply to the notification correctly.
- We know scams are contacting people about COVID-19 vaccine opportunities, so please review our information on the senders of the texts, emails, and calls so you recognize our emergency notifications.
- These communications will be unique to you – please do not forward them to others.
- You must respond immediately or we will move on to other employees on the priority list.
The system uses contact information from Employee Self Service (ESS), so it’s very important that your contact information there is up to date.
Review the full information about these notifications on MetNet.
Reminder: Using COVID-19 Leave for vaccine side effects
To help prevent misuse of the Met Council’s COVID-19 Leave Policy, here are some reminders for employees and managers on how this leave can and cannot be used related to the COVID-19 vaccine:
- Employees may use COVID-19 Leave if they have a reaction to the vaccine and need to take time off, but only if they have Emergency Sick Pay (ESP) time available.
- Employees were given a bank of 80 hours of ESP to use from April 4, 2020, to present.
- To use this leave, the employee would talk with their manager and complete the COVID-19 leave request form (PDF) (using section 1A) and send it to the Employee Resource Center as soon as possible.
- Employees with side effects from the vaccine may use a combined maximum of three days of ESP to recuperate. For example, if an employee has symptoms after the first dose and uses two days of ESP, if they have symptoms after the second dose, they are allowed only one day of ESP.
- Employees may not use COVID-19 Leave to get a vaccine.
- This is a similar situation to when an employee gets a flu shot, preventative test, or cancer screen. Employees are required to do this on their own time.
- If an employee is contacted to get a vaccine on short notice, they should talk with their manager.
If additional leave is necessary, employees can use accrued annual or sick leave.
For full information on the policy, review the COVID-19 Leave Policy (updated Jan. 1, 2021) on MetNet.
Tools to help you find vaccination opportunities
As of Tuesday (April 6), 1,900,248 Minnesotans had received at least one vaccine dose and 1,247,045 people had completed the vaccine series. For up-to-date information on vaccine availability and distribution, visit the Minnesota Department of Health vaccine dashboard.
These are some of the tools you can use to find vaccine appointments:
- Sign up for the COVID-19 Vaccine Connector to get updates on vaccine opportunities and be entered into the random selection process for the state's Community Vaccination Program sites.
- Contact your healthcare provider, local pharmacy, or use the Vaccine Locator Map to search for vaccine providers in your area.
- If you have a HealthPartners medical plan, make sure your contact information in your account is up to date. HealthPartners is contacting eligible patients to schedule a vaccination when they have appointments available. Learn more on the HealthPartners COVID-19 site.
- As part of M Health Fairview’s COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Efforts, they are prioritizing communities of color and indigenous communities that have experienced disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 during the pandemic. For an appointment, register through their COVID-19 Vaccine Screener.
- Make sure you're reading this weekly all-staff COVID-19 email to get the latest on vaccination opportunities, guidelines, and more.
- For more information about the vaccine and how to find an appointment, visit the Minnesota Department of Health vaccine site.
You do not have to wait for information from the Minnesota COVID-19 Vaccine Connector or the Met Council's emergency notification system before getting your shot. If your health care provider contacts you about making an appointment, or if you have another opportunity to get vaccinated, you can and should do that.
It is up to all of us to protect ourselves and others by getting vaccinated and following recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19. Even if you are fully vaccinated (two weeks after your final dose), it is important to follow precautions. Review the state's recommendations on gatherings and quarantine for fully vaccinated people.
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RA staff hear from leaders on pandemic planning in town hall
On April 1, more than 250 Met Council staff from Regional Administration and the central office attended a one-hour, online town hall with Acting Regional Administrator Mary Bogie, where they heard updates on the state of pandemic planning at the Met Council, including vaccine distribution, returning teleworkers to onsite work, future updates to the teleworking policy, and more. Joining Bogie as presenters were Matt LaTour, planning chief and director of Program Evaluation and Audit, and Todd Rowley, director of Talent Management in Human Resources.
If you missed the discussion, you can watch the one-hour recording on Stream.
Virtual meetings: Audio conferencing added to Microsoft Teams
The Collaborative Business Solutions team in Information Services is pleased to announce audio conferencing is now available in Microsoft Teams for Met Council employees. Audio conferencing adds a local phone number for attendees – internal or external to the Met Council – to call into a Teams meeting from a telephone.
To learn more and request this capability for your account, please visit the Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing page on MetNet.
Please note, to be responsible stewards of taxpayer funding, we will remove the audio-conferencing feature from your account if you do not use it for 60 consecutive days.
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Check the MetNet pages, FAQs
For the most current information related to the COVID-19 outbreak, visit the MetNet page and be sure to review the FAQs for staff and managers. They are updated as we have new information to communicate.
For Metro Transit work instructions and daily updates on new COVID-19 cases reported at each worksite, visit the Metro Transit MetNet page. For job aids and facilities updates for Environmental Services related to COVID-19, visit the Environmental Services page.
If you have questions, talk to your manager or supervisor or submit a question or concern in the online COVID-19 form.
Check out the latest issues of our internal newsletters: April 2 Insights (Transit), April 6 Wire, and April 8 HR Connect.
For those who cannot easily access MetNet and/or would like a printable PDF of the FAQs, here are the most recent versions of these pages:
Met Council workforce statistics
The following statistics related to COVID-19 have been reported to the Employee Resource Center. The "active positive COVID-19" number is the number of employees who currently have a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. The "cumulative" number marks the total number of employees who received a positive COVID-19 diagnosis since the pandemic began. The second table breaks down the positive cases by division for Community Development (CD), Environmental Services (ES), Metro Transit (MT), Metropolitan Transportation Services (MTS), and Regional Administration (RA).
Employees with positive COVID-19 diagnosis (April 8):
Employees with positive COVID-19 diagnosis by division (April 8*):
*These division numbers are reported weekly. These tables reflect changes week over week.
 
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