Update on Work Exclusion Rules for Staff with Repeat Positives

The Department of Health (DOH) has updated its advice on work exclusion of health care personnel who experience persistent or repeated positive COVID-19 test results within 90 days of a COVID-19 diagnosis. In an email from the Bureau of Healthcare Associated Infections and on a call with associations, DOH staff indicated that:

• Staff members who continue to test positive immediately after completing a COVID-related furlough may return to work as soon as they test negative.
• Staff members who complete an initial furlough, return to work after a negative COVID-19 test, and experience sporadic positive test results within 90 days of the initial COVID-19 diagnosis must furlough each time they test positive, but may return to work as soon as they receive a negative test result. They do not have to be furloughed for 14 or 10 days after each subsequent test result. Positive COVID-19 test results received beyond 90 days of the index diagnosis would, however, trigger a full 10- or 14-day furlough.

We understand that many staff members who have recently recovered from COVID-19 are subsequently being furloughed as a result of community or household exposures. We have asked DOH to align its exposure-related return to work guidance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and allow these recovered staff members to remain at work without furlough. However, the Department informed us on a call with other associations that these staff must be excluded from work for the required period (10 or 14 days, depending on the setting in which they work). 

Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8838