COVID-19 Information, Direction, & Policy

Taking appropriate precautions to ensure the health and safety of all employees is an ongoing priority of CMHA Kelowna. We continue to closely monitor guidance from our Provincial Health Officer (Dr. Bonnie Henry), the BC Centre for Disease Control, and the Health Employers Association of BC, to ensure that the guidance for CMHA Kelowna employees specific to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is accurate, updated regularly, and reflective of the changing local and international conditions. Please know that this is a situation that is still evolving every day, so there are several unknowns and some things that are “known” today, but may change tomorrow. While it is not easy to be in a place of uncertainty, it is okay for us to be in it, especially if we take reasonable and measured steps to take care of one another and ourselves. In the words of Dr. Bonnie Henry, “Be kind, be calm and be safe”.

You can review the most recent COVID-19 Protocols from the Provincial Health Officer here.

COVID-19 is a respiratory virus that is transmitted person-to-person through contact with contaminated respiratory fluids (droplets from coughing, sneezing, nasal secretions, expressive talking, etc.).

The vast majority of people who contract the infection will feel mild symptoms and need to be in isolation until the virus passes (generally 14 days). The remaining minority of people who contract the virus will have moderate to severe symptoms and likely require increased support through healthcare clinics and hospitals.

Symptoms page through the BCCDC

People most likely to fall into the minority bracket are those living with pre-existing conditions (namely lung/respiratory conditions), elderly, and immunocompromised. By ensuring all of us take appropriate prevention measures, we help to protect both those in the majority and the minority. Wash your hands.

Physical distancing from others continues to be important when outside your home or at work. Carry on with these simple tips to help keep the transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible.

• Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth.
• Keep a physical distance of about 2 metres between yourself and others.
• Avoid or limit interaction with large gatherings (50+ people).
• Limit personal contact, avoid shaking hands, hugging, or otherwise embracing other people when greeting, saying goodbye, or being friendly. Elbow bumps and head nods are the best options when greeting people. Ensure program participants and residents know about this as well.
• Frequent hand washing/sanitizing is a foundational line of defense, as well as
  encouraging/requiring program participants and residents to do the same.
• Cover your mouth with a tissue … or into your elbow with your sneeze or cough. Wash/sanitize your hands immediately afterwards.
• Do not share food, drink or utensils and take ownership of your dishes in staff kitchens.
• Wash your hands before handling and eating your lunch.
• Stay home if you have any of the symptoms of COVID-19 and reach out to 8-1-1 for directions in regards to testing. It is better to be overly cautious, if in doubt, stay home.
• If a staff member, program participant or resident exhibits symptoms while at the office/programming/in residence, they will be asked to wear a mask and to immediately return home.
• If a resident in one of our housing facilities exhibits symptoms, please let IH know and have them self-quarantine in their home until IH provides direction.
• If you do not have symptoms, you do not need a mask in our programming sites, as long as you are able to maintain appropriate distancing.

More about how you can protect yourself and others, see Physical Distancing at BC Centre for Disease Control

A cloth mask can help prevent respiratory droplets of an unknowingly infected person from coming into contact with others. A non-medical (ie. cloth) mask or face covering may be used for periods of time when you cannot keep a safe distance from others. Wearing a cloth mask alone will not protect you from COVID-19. Keep practicing preventive measures such as frequent hand washing, cleaning and disinfecting your surfaces and objects and physical distancing as much as possible. To learn more about wearing a mask and types of masks, see BC Centre for Disease Control: Masks

Wear a mask if you are unable to physically distance in a housing or service site (Foundry Kelowna/WDC). Masks act as a barrier and help stop droplets from spreading when you cough or sneeze. Using a mask in combination with the above preventative measures can help protect those around you.

Front line and supportive housing workers in contact with residents or participants who are suspected or confirmed of having COVID-19 should use standard infection prevention and control precautions. This includes wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. Having the person wear a mask until they are able to self-isolate will help prevent the spread of the virus to other people. Please remember that viruses do not discriminate, and we must not either. We must not make or tolerate statements that explicitly or implicitly infer that a person’s racial and ethnic background changes the level of risk for contracting or spreading the virus. There is a lot of information about COVID-19 and the province’s response to the pandemic. For a list of the trusted sources that they use at HealthLinkBC 8-1-1 to provide British Columbians with health information and advice, see Useful Resources for COVID-19.

Each staff member must ensure that they have provided us with up to date contact information. If have recently moved or have a change of phone number please update John West in HR immediately.

Please provide the following:

1. Full home address, including postal code.
2. Home phone number if you have a landline.
3. Personal Cell number
4. Work Cell number
5. If you have an office desk phone, provide phone extension
6. A name and accurate phone number of an emergency contact.

As a community organization, we continually examine the best way to provide services to our participants through the Wellness Development Centre (WDC) and walk in traffic due to the closure of our office at 504 Sutherland Ave. Tremendous work and creativity by our team has been displayed as they continue to provide community and social connection with one day a week onsite programs. When weather permits, the WDC team will offer outdoor activities for our participants in a safe, COVID friendly manner, as well as providing support and activities online. BC is currently in Phase 3 of the “BC Restart Plan” CMHA Kelowna will continue to follow guidelines set out through this phase. PHASE 3 – BC RESTART PLAN

If you are a regular full-time or part-time employee, and display symptoms of the virus, as with all other illnesses, you will go on sick leave for the duration of the symptoms, covered by your allotted sick time you have available. If you do not have enough sick time available, your time will be unpaid. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, please do NOT come to work. Stay home and call 8-1-1 to receive information or instructions on how to be tested. You must stay home (sick leave) while you are waiting for your test results and may return upon confirmation of a negative result. If you are a casual employee, paid sick leave is not available. If you are a full-time, part-time or casual employee who doesn’t have enough paid sick time to be cover being off due to COVID, or due to self isolation while waiting for test results, the Government is providing the ‘Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit’ (CRSB), just for this specific circumstance. Please follow the link below to see if you qualify for CRSB.

CANADA RECOVERY SICKNESS BENEFIT

If you are a regular full-time or part-time employee and your regular work location is closed due to COVID-19 (at the direction of a public health official), leadership will assess options that may be available, including alternate work opportunities (ie work from home), or temporary lay-off, until your worksite re-opens. If you are a casual staff and your regular work location is closed due to COVID-19 (at the direction of a public health official), you will be paid for any shifts that you had accepted at the time general leave was started. No further work shifts will be scheduled until the work location is re-opened.

If you are home because of being impacted by COVID-19, sick etc…, please use the following options from the dropdown menu in your timesheet:

• Work
  o Working onsite
  o Working from home for any reason

• Sick
  o Sick with anything that is NOT COVID-19 related
  o This will be deducted from your sick time

• Vacation – Requested

• Vacation – Approved

• Unpaid Leave – Requested

• Unpaid Leave – Approved

• Lieu Time (Used) – Requested

• Lieu Time – Approved

• COVID – SICK
  o Positive COVID result
  o Mandatory self isolation due to COVID TESTING
  o Mandatory self isolation as directed by Provincial Health Authority
  – i.e. Deemed a direct contact because of exposure to positive case through Provincial Health Authority
  o This will be deducted from your sick time
  o If you are a f/t – p/t or casual employee who does not have enough paid sick time to
  cover being off due to COVID, the Government is providing the “Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit” if you meet the criteria they list on their website:
  – https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-sickness-benefit.html

• COVID – IMPACT
  o You are healthy and ‘could’ work, but impacted due to COVID-19 external factors
  o School / Daycare / Care home closures and must care for children or immediate
  family memberso If you are a f/t – p/t or casual employee who must take time off to care for immediate
  family due to COVID, the Government is providing the “Canada Recovery Caregiver
  Benefit” if you meet the criteria they list on their website:
  o https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit.html

• COVID – OT
  o If you are a frontline / housing / outreach worker who works overtime during staffing shortages. This must be cleared by manager and paid out at ESA standards of time and a half.

Effective immediately, CMHA Kelowna is suspending all international travel.

An official travel advisory is in effect from the Federal Government and all non-essential travel outside of Canada is to be avoided. CMHA Kelowna is enforcing this advisory for all staff until further notice.

https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices/221

Both the Provincial Health Authority and Federal Medical Health Officers request that all people returning from International travel must self-quarantine for 14 days after their return. People who exhibit symptoms upon return are required to contact 8-1-1 for guidance. Please note that if an employee does leave the country, CMHA Kelowna is invoking that staff returning from personal international travel follow the Government of Canada protocol above and self- quarantine. If International travel is something CMHA Kelowna staff are considering, they are required to speak with their Manager well in advance, to discuss the potential risk to their health and how their absence due to the mandatory quarantine of 14 days would affect their work. If CMHA Kelowna staff are not able to effectively work from home during this mandatory quarantine time (14 days), this time will be unpaid. Should staff risk travelling out of the country and contract COVID-19 or be unable to return from their personal travel on their expected return to work date, CMHA Kelowna will not compensate them for the time of missed work. For travel between cities and provinces, we ask all staff to follow Provincial Health Authority Travel Guidelines when considering their travel plans. If this is something staff is considering, they are to be in constant contact with their manager and HR to discuss whether there is potential risk to their health and how their possible absence would affect their work.

Provincial Health Authority Travel Guidelines – HealthLink BC