If you are a County employee experiencing one or more of the below symptoms commonly associated with COVID that you cannot attribute to another condition, you must stay home, notify your supervisor, and answer "yes" to the symptoms listed on your daily health screening With cold and flu season upon us, please do not self-diagnosis or assume your condition is not COVID-related. The Liaison may direct you to be tested before you receive clearance to return to work in the office or field. Employees going through this process are able to be tested at the County's PH Lab in SLO and results typically come back the same day before 5 pm. 

An additional option is to test at home with 2 anitgen (rapid) tests 48 hours apart. You are required to take a photo of each test along with a piece of paper in the photo with your name, date, and time of test. When you are contacted by the Public Health Liaison, they will discuss your Health Screening, and give you instructions on how to email your rapid results. 

COVID-19 Symptoms include the following:

• Chills
• Cough
• Fever
• Muscle Pain
• New Loss of Taste or Smell
• Shortness of Breath or Difficulty Breathing
• Sore Throat
• Nausea or vomiting
• Congestion or runny nose
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Diarrhea

Beginning April 3, 2023, masks will no longer be required in indoor high-risk and health care settings. Masks are still required/recommended for the following situations:

Health Care Employees

• REQUIRED: Confirmed COVID-19 cases may return to work in an N95 mask on days 6 through 10 if they test negative on an antigen (rapid) test, feel well, have improving symptoms, and are fever-free for 24 hours. Day 0 is the onset of symptoms and employees must remain in isolation through day 5.
• REQUIRED: During COVID-19 outbreaks (3+ cases).
• RECOMMENDED: 10 days after a close contact.

Non Health Care Employees

• REQUIRED: Confirmed COVID-19 cases may return to work in a surgical mask, KN95, or N95 mask on days 6 through 10 if they feel well, have improving symptoms, and are fever-free for 24 hours. Day 0 is the onset of symptoms and employees must remain in isolation through day 5.
• REQUIRED: During COVID-19 outbreaks (3+ cases).
• RECOMMENDED: 10 days after a close contact.

If you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a face covering, please inform your supervisor and provide them with your doctor’s note. The doctor’s note does not need to provide the diagnosis or even the symptoms, just a confirmation of the need for an exclusion from the mask requirement. This is similar to what employees are required to provide to their employers as part of  Americans with Disabilities Act and is not in violation of any of privacy laws.

1. When you have had close contact with a confirmed positive case (non work related); or

2. You are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and cannot attribute them to another condition (e.g. coughing because of allergies).

If you answer yes to any of the COVID symptoms and cannot attribute them to another condition (e.g. coughing because of allergies) please stay home and notify your supervisor. You will be contacted by the Public Health (PH) Liaison and provided further direction. You may only return to work once you have been given clearance by PH.

The County treats this information as confidential and will protect your personal privacy; however, it is not HIPAA protected Personal Health Information (PHI). Our screening results will only be shared with select individuals who have a need to know in order to ensure employees experiencing COVID related symptoms are not reporting to work and are connected with Public Health for further instruction and clearance to return to work. Screenings that reveal symptoms (one or more Yes answers) will be shared with the Public Health Department. They will be maintained separate from your personnel file. Screenings that reveal no symptoms (all No answers) will be deleted or shredded.

No, pre-shift time spent on health checks is not compensable since it is not a principal activity of your job. The questionnaire should only take seconds to complete.

An outbreak is when there are three or more employee COVID-19 cases within an exposed group visited the worksite during their infectious period at any time during a 7-day period.

An outbreak will continue until there are one or fewer new COVID-19 cases detected in the exposed group for a 14-day period.

Source: CalOSHA and CDPH

Employees in the exposed group, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear face coverings when indoors, or when outdoors and less than six feet from another person, unless one of the below exceptions applies.

(A) When an employee is alone in a room or vehicle.

(B) While eating or drinking at the workplace, provided employees are at least six feet apart and, if indoors, the supply of outside or filtered air has been maximized to the extent feasible.

(C) While employees are wearing respirators required by the employer and used in compliance with CalOSHA (section 5144).

(D) Employees who cannot wear face coverings due to a medical or mental health condition or disability, or who are hearing-impaired or communicating with a hearing-impaired person. Such employees shall wear an effective non-restrictive alternative, such as a face shield with a drape on the bottom, if the condition or disability permits it.

(E) During specific tasks which cannot feasibly be performed with a face covering. This exception is limited to the time period in which such tasks are actually being performed.

Immediately upon discovering a worksite is near/in an outbreak, the County will make COVID-19 testing available at no cost to its employees within the exposed group, regardless of vaccination status, during employees' paid time.

The County will make testing available on a weekly basis to all employees in the exposed group who remain at the workplace.

Employees who had close contacts shall have a negative COVID-19 test taken within three to five days after the close contact or shall be excluded and follow the return to work requirements of subsection 3205(c)(5) starting from the date of the last known close contact.

Yes, the CDC encourages you to use telemedicine services, rather than visiting a doctor's office or clinic, to limit the spread of the virus. All copays will be waived when utilizing Anthem’s Live Health Online telemedicine for the purpose of discussing COVID-19. Anthem’s Live Health Online (LHO) provides access to Telemedicine services via your phone, tablet or computer for you and your covered dependents. Visits are confidential and can be made wherever you are most comfortable.  Sign up and download the corresponding app to schedule a telemedicine appointment.  

Please see the Public Health guidance on how to receive your COVID-19 vaccine.

To check booster eligibility, see Can I Get a COVID-19 Booster Dose?

For more information, visit Who Can Get a Booster Shot. 

If you are not currently experiencing symptoms and have not tested positive for COVID-19, you may continue to work in person. Regardless of your COVID-19 vaccination status, it is recommended if you've had exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 positive case, you should wear a mask for 10 days.  

As always, if you are experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms, you should stay home from work to self-monitor your symptoms and seek medical attention as needed. Fill out your daily health questionnaire and you will be contacted by the Public Health (PH) Liaison for further instructions. 

If you complete your daily health screening and answer "yes" to any of the questions, a Public Health Liason will contact you. They can then submit a referral for you to get tested at the Public Health lab in SLO and will discuss other testing options. Information on testing can be found here.

Yes. California has mandated insurance companies and Medi-Cal plans reduce cost sharing to zero (including co-pays, deductibles, or co-insurance) for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19, including hospital, urgent care visits, and provider office visits where the purpose of the visit is to be screened and/or tested for COVID-19. For more information, please refer to the DMHC’s All Plan Letter.   

You can use your sick leave balances if you are called in to work and you are unable to report because you are sick.  If you are unable to report to a Disaster Service Worker call due to illness, you can code sick leave for that time you were unavailable. 

Yes, depending on your bargaining unit (BU) and your benefit elections, you may be covered under a short term disability (STD) policy which will provide benefits if you are out of work for longer than 7 days and meet the plan provisions.

AB84/SB114, the 80 hours of COVID leave, expired on December 31, 2022. Employees are expected to utilize sick time or work with your department on their telecommuniting options. 

For more information the County's safety guidelines, review the County Injury and Illness Prevention Plan-COVID Addendum. 

Please let HR - Countywide Safety or your Department’s Safety Rep know if you have questions or concerns.