Updated CDC Guidance for Health Care Workers and Patients Exposed to COVID-19

In response to recent updates to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concerning COVID-19 isolation, Methodist Health System leadership has approved Infectious Disease department recommendations for employees returning to work as well as patients and visitors in Methodist inpatient and outpatient settings.

In Summary

FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Methodist is following CDC contingency recommendations for health care personnel outlined in the explanation and chart below.

Allowing health care personnel with a COVID-19 infection who are well enough and willing to work to return to work as follows:

Personnel with mild to moderate illness who are not moderately to severely immunocompromised:

• At least five days have passed since symptoms first appeared, and
• At least 24 hours have passed since last fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and
• Symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) have improved

Personnel who were asymptomatic throughout their infection and are not moderately to severely immunocompromised:

• At least five days have passed since the date of their first positive viral test (day 0)
• Due to testing limitations, Methodist will continue with its current policy of testing symptomatic employees only

FOR PATIENTS AND VISITORS

Recommendations for inpatient isolation and visitation have not been updated by the CDC, so Methodist will continue current protocols.

Patients who are visiting outpatient settings and have been exposed to or test positive for COVID-19 should follow CDC guidance for quarantine/isolation. Simple charts with this information can be found here.

Methodist will monitor CDC recommendations as well as community trends and practices to determine if updates to current policies are necessary.

More Information

Click on the links below for Methodist documents detailing updated guidance for health care workers and patients exposed to or infected with COVID-19.

• Updated interim Guidance for managing Healthcare Personnel (HCP) with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2
• Updated CDC recommendations for duration of isolation for the general population