Updated employee health and safety guidelines regarding respiratory illnesses

Dear Staff and Faculty, 

Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Updated Respiratory Virus Guidance regarding how individuals should protect themselves and others from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. As a result of this updated guidance, individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are no longer required to isolate for five days. 

What the new guidance states 
The CDC’s new guidance for individuals with a respiratory illness, including COVID-19, the flu, and RSV, recommends: 
• Stay home when you are sick; and 
• Return to normal activities when you have been fever-free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication) and your symptoms are getting better overall. 

The CDC also recommends that when returning to work and other activities, individuals wear a mask around others for another five days, as well as take other precautions to protect others, including frequent hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and physical distancing. 

What this means for employees 
The College encourages faculty and staff to stay home when they are sick with a respiratory illness and to follow the CDC’s recommendations regarding when to return to work and the additional precautionary measures following your return. 

Please note: A separate message with updated guidance for students was shared with them earlier today. 

Recording sick and absence time 
Staff and faculty are no longer required to notify Human Resources when they test positive for COVID-19, and the College’s Interim COVID-19 Emergency Leave Policy is no longer in effect. Staff who are sick must still notify their supervisor of their absence and record that time in Oracle as sick or absence time. 

Tests 
COVID-19 tests will remain available through the rest of the semester for staff and faculty concerned about workplace-related exposure. Employees remain encouraged to test if they are experiencing symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19, but staff and faculty are no longer required to report positive COVID-19 test results to Human Resources. 

Masks 
The College will continue to provide KN95 masks to staff, faculty, and students. Departments may request masks by contacting Facilities. Faculty may choose to require masking in their classrooms, labs, or studios; staff and faculty may require masking within their personal office space; and students may require masking of visitors in their individual residence rooms. Everywhere else on campus, masking is optional and not required. Skidmore continues to be a mask-supportive and mask-friendly community. Individuals should feel free to wear a mask whenever and wherever they wish. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Laura Goodwin, Assistant Director for Benefits, Compliance and Wellness. 

Sincerely, 
Human Resources