COVID-19 Congregate Site Prevention Measures per the Cattaraugus County Department of Aging
Basic Infection Prevention Measures
- Take temperatures and assess for symptoms of illness of all congregate participants, volunteers, and any visitors visiting your SWAN site daily upon arrival to the site. If the person has a temperature or reports any symptoms of illness listed on the sign-in sheet, they must leave. Everyone entering must record temp and sign-in. You will be provided with a no-tough thermal thermometer. (see attached sign-in sample below)
- Promote frequent hand washing with soap and water. You will be provided with a sanitizer station, as well as sanitizer for wiping and cleaning surfaces. Please follow all instructions included in your general nutrition policy and procedure manual for food safety and proper hygiene and cleaning guidelines. All surfaces must be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, as per standard food service practices. Extreme infection-control practices must be followed, especially in common dining areas. While sites may not be open in the early opening stages to dining and those areas may be free from foot traffic, you may still have meals on wheels volunteers picking up and dropping off meal containers. All containers, handles, route books, and any other packages handled by staff or volunteers must be wiped down and sanitized daily. (see separate infection control directions for meal drivers below)
- Encourage participants/volunteers to stay home if they are sick. All participants should pre-register at the site and be asked the following questions:
- *How are you feeling?
- *Have you had a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat in the last 14 days? If yes, *Have you called your doctor?
- *Have you been diagnosed with Covid-19?
- *Have you lost your sense of smell or taste in the last 14 days?
- *Have you been in contact with anyone who has been sick?
- *Were they diagnosed with COVID-19 or under investigation for COVID-19?
- Encourage respiratory etiquette, cover coughs and sneezes with tissue or inside elbow.
- All rooms should have 6ft of spacing between chairs. Optimally chairs should be plastic and not upholstered. Chairs should be cleaned at least once per day once the site is open for use. If room has high volume of use, clean more frequently throughout the day.
- Provide masks to all participants, volunteers, visitors, and staff. Masks will be provided through the EOC and Dept. of Aging. Provide floor markings showing 6ft distancing, flow of traffic, and/or other necessary social distancing. These will be provided by the EOC and delivered from the Machias kitchen, as well as wall signage.
- Identify areas where sneeze guards should be implemented for interactions that are not 6ft apart, if appropriate.
- 6ft social distancing between all participants at all times. Possible staggered dining hours if seating space is not available.
- For transportation to congregate site in Olean, limit passengers to half capacity and have all participants and drivers wear face masks. Work with transportation contractor.
- Reduce the use of shared items throughout the site. For instance, replace a single salt and pepper shaker in the middle of a large table with individual packets of salt and pepper. Replace the single sign-in pen with a container of “new/clean” pens and “used” pens each day that can be sprayed with disinfectant and rotated each day. Kim, Lisa, and/or Candy will do a site by site walk-through to determine small modifications at individual sites to promote best practices for infection-control, specifically targeting shared spaced and/or shared items.
Staff and Volunteer Daily Signature Sheet
I am confirming that I am feeling healthy today with no signs or symptoms related to COVID-19 including:
- Fever above 100.0
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea or vomiting or flu-like symptoms
- Lack of smell or taste
I understand that all safety measures must be followed to protect myself and others as we serve the community. I understand it is my decision to work or volunteer today, and as with any community exposure, the risk may be heightened to contract COVID-19. I understand that if I have a temperature or present with signs or symptoms of illness, I will be asked to return home until I am free from illness.
Date______ Temperature________ Signature____________________________