Recovery | COVID-19 | Alameda County Public Health

Alameda County is fully aligned with the State of California Reopening Plan.

For more face mask guidance and requirements, see our Face Mask webpage.

Suspected or Confirmed Case of COVID-19 in the Workplace

Employees who are suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 in the workplace should immediately be separated from other people (e.g., coworkers, consumers, etc.) and sent home; employees who are suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 while away from the workplace should notify their supervisor and stay home.

See here for detailed workplace steps to controlling and preventing outbreaks.

There is no guaranteed way to determine whether an employee has been exposed to COVID-19. If an employee was within six (6) feet of an individual confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19, for a total of 15 minutes or more, this constitutes a potential exposure. Furthermore, COVID-19 can be spread via commonly touch areas, tools, and equipment, by which a shared workspace can also constitute a potential exposure.

If you or an employee has reason to believe they have been exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace, see COVID-19 Quarantine Instructions.

“Employers are required to follow the Cal/OSHA isolation and quarantine guidelines. For additional information see the California Department of Public Health Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines. Employees who are exposed to COVID-19 should be encouraged to get tested. For information on where to get tested, see the Alameda County Testing for COVID-19.

Quarantine and Isolation Requirements for the Workplace

In the workplace, employers are subject to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) or in some workplaces the Cal/OSHA Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) Standard (PDF), and should consult those regulations for additional applicable requirements. Additional information about how CDPH isolation and quarantine guidance affects ETS-covered workplaces may be found in Cal/OSHA FAQs.

Work Exclusion:
Prevents a person from working as an employee or entering a specific work facility.

Work Restriction:
Prevents a person from working as an employee performing certain types of work (e.g., direct contact with clients or others), or restriction from contact with specific populations.

Please see Alameda County's Isolation and Quarantine guidance. Please play close attention to the notes related to Workplace Settings. Employers must comply with any applicable requirements of the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).

The Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) were readopted and updated effective May 6, 2022. Part of this update includes new quarantine guidance for workplaces. Alameda County workplaces must follow BOTH Cal/OSHA and Alameda County quarantine requirements:

Alameda County REQUIRES unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated residents to quarantine for 5 days. Persons infected within the prior 90 days do not need to quarantine.
The Cal/OSHA ETS REQUIRES all employees regardless of vaccination status have a negative test between days 3-5 to return to work. Persons infected within the prior 90 days do not need to be tested unless symptoms develop.
The Cal/OSHA ETS REQUIRES that exposed employees mask for 10 days regardless of vaccination status.
If you can’t or do not want to test, the Cal/OSHA ETS REQUIRES that exposed employees stay home for 10 days, regardless of vaccination status.

For more information see the Cal/OSHA ETS webpage and the Alameda County Quarantine webpage.

If you or your employee(s) feel symptoms after your vaccine, carefully read and follow this one-page guidance.

Post-Vaccine Symptoms Guidance

This guidance is for symptomatic employees/workers who have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the prior 5 days (Day 1 is day of vaccination) and have NOT had a close contact with a COVID-19+ person during the previous 14 days.

Staff who are symptomatic post-vaccine and are within 14 days of a close contact should be excluded from work and evaluated by a health care provider (HCP) for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Covered employees in the public or private sectors who work for employers with 26 or more employees are entitled to up to 80 hours of 2022 COVID-19 related paid sick leave from January 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022.

2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Poster: English | Spanish
2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Eligibility Navigator

Returning to Work After COVID-19

“Employers are required to follow the Cal/OSHA isolation and quarantine guidelines. For additional information see the California Department of Public Health Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines. For information on where to get tested, see the Alameda County Testing for COVID-19.”

An employer should not require any documentation from an employee with COVID-19 to return to work (i.e., a negative test result is not required from an employee to return to work). The Alameda County Public Health Department follows CDC’s symptom-based and time-based strategies to determine when a person with COVID-19 may be released from home isolation. For additional details, see Table 1: COVID-19 Return-to-Work Criteria (above) and/or please refer to the CDC's Isolation Guidance.

Open Letter to Employers Regarding Clearance Testing (ACPHD, 1/31/2022): English | Arabic | Burmese | Dari | Farsi | Hindi | Khmer | Korean | Mongolian | Pashto | Punjabi | Spanish | Tagalog | Tigrinya | Traditional Chinese | Vietnamese

Recording and Reporting COVID-19

In accordance with Cal/OSHA, AB 685, and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reporting requirements, employers are required to report workplace-related outbreaks to their local health department. An outbreak at a non-healthcare or non-congregate setting workplace is considered 3+ cases within a 14-day period, among employees who do not live in the same household. Alameda County uses the Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT) to report workplace outbreaks. Please submit only one SPOT intake form once your facility has met the outbreak reporting threshold. Submit any additional employee COVID cases directly into SPOT.

Note: An outbreak at a healthcare setting, including but not limited to an acute care hospital, outpatient clinic, or congregate living facilities, should visit our Healthcare Facilities webpage for more information on how to report cases.

Non-healthcare and non-residential congregate workplaces should use Alameda County’s Workplace Outbreak Guidance to investigate, report, manage, and control suspected or confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks. The Workplace Outbreak Guidance contains step by step instructions, as well as resources and links to national, state, and local guidance requirements for reopening and managing COVID-19 outbreaks.

Alameda County Workplace COVID-19 Outbreak Guidance (ACPHD, 5/24/22, English)

Effective March 1, 2021, non-healthcare/non-congregate setting workplaces are only required to report COVID-19 outbreaks to the Alameda County Public Health Department—which is defined as 3+ cases within a 14-day period, among workers who do not live in the same household.

To report a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 outbreak in the workplace, please complete the SPOT Intake Form for Workplaces via California State's Share Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT). Once the information you enter is reviewed, you may be provided supplemental login credentials to enter additional details about persons involved in the exposure.

For additional guidance on how to report workplace-related COVID-19 cases via California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT), please see the California Public Health Department SPOT Training Video and/or SPOT User Guide.

California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking is an online platform that facilitates the collaboration and sharing of information with employers and the Alameda County Public Health Department through CalCONNECT (i.e., California’s public health contact tracing and data management system). SPOT is one of several tools that can assist workplaces in complying with state and local reporting requirements including Cal/OSHA, AB 685, and California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

For guidance on how to report workplace-related COVID-19 cases via California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT), please see the California Public Health Department SPOT Training Video and/or SPOT User Guide.

As of March 1, 2021, the process for reporting individual workplace-related COVID-19 cases to the Alameda County Public Health Department has changed. Employers will now only report workplace-related COVID-19 outbreaks via the Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT)—an online platform that facilitates collaboration and sharing of information with employers and the Alameda County Public Health Department through CalCONNECT (i.e., California’s public health contact tracing and data management system). SPOT is one of several tools that can assist workplaces in complying with state and local reporting requirements including Cal/OSHA, AB 685, and California Department of Public Health (CDPH)

Reporting workplace-related COVID-19 outbreaks via SPOT is a two-step process and the report is not considered complete until both steps are fulfilled.

STEP #1: Complete the SPOT Intake Form for Workplaces

Once the SPOT Intake Form for Workplaces is submitted, the Key Point of Contact for the workplace location identified on the SPOT intake form will receive an email from SPOT. The Workplace Liaison will also receive a separate confirmation email with the Exposure Event number associated with this outbreak. Please allow up to 48 hours for this information to arrive.

STEP #2: Submit the Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT)

Once both emails including the SPOT account login information and Exposure Event number are received, the Key Point of Contact will enter the worker case and close contact information associated with this outbreak into SPOT. Please be sure to complete all requested fields in the SPOT portal to avoid delays in the reporting process.

What if additional cases are associated with this same outbreak?

If additional cases are associated with this same outbreak (e.g., more cases occur at a later date), enter the additional information directly into SPOT. Do not resubmit the SPOT Intake Form for Workplaces unless the submission is for a new outbreak or a different worksite location.

What happens after I submit an outbreak into SPOT?

Alameda County Outbreak Investigation staff may call you to obtain additional information or provide public health recommendations for managing an outbreak at your workplace.

For additional guidance on how to report workplace-related COVID-19 cases via California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT), please see the California Public Health Department SPOT Training Video and/or SPOT User Guide.

If additional cases are associated with an outbreak you already submitted via SPOT, please enter the additional information directly into SPOT. Do not resubmit the SPOT Intake Form for Workplaces unless the submission is for a new outbreak or a different worksite location.

For guidance on how to report workplace-related COVID-19 cases via California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT), please see the California Public Health Department SPOT Training Video and/or SPOT User Guide.

For guidance on how to report workplace-related COVID-19 cases via California State’s Shared Portal for Outbreak Tracking (SPOT), please see the California Public Health Department SPOT Training Video and/or SPOT User Guide.

California employers that are required to record work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses must also record work-related COVID-19 cases as they would any other occupational injury, illness, or fatality. To be recordable, a work-related injury or illness must result in one or more of the following:

Death
Days away from work
Restricted work or transfer to another job
Medical treatment beyond first aid
Loss of consciousness
A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional

If a work-related COVID-19 case meets one or more of these criteria, then covered employers in California must record the case on their 300, 300A and 301 or equivalent forms.

See California Code of Regulations, title 8, Chapter 7, Subchapter 1, Article 2, Employer Records of Occupational Injury or Illness for details on which employers are obligated to report and other requirements.

Employers should report serious injury, illness, and death to the local Cal/OSHA district office immediately. This includes in-patient hospitalization and death from COVID-19 even if work-relatedness is uncertain. Cal/OSHA prefers reports by phone but will also accept email reports to CalOSHAaccidentreport@tel-us.com

Additional details on Cal/OSHA reporting, district office contact information, and Title 8 Section 342 requirement are available online.

Employers must provide a written notice to all employees who may have been in close contact with an infected employee, within 1 business day of receiving notification of potential exposure. The written notice can be hand delivered or given by email or text message and should be in both English and any other language understood by the majority of employees

In accordance with the federal HIPPA Privacy Rule, when communicating a potential exposure, employers must maintain the confidentiality of employees with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. While the aim is to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace by informing employees of potential exposures, no personally identifiable information (PII) should be shared with other employees when doing so. PII includes but is not limited to name, date of birth, address, phone number, and any other information that may deduce the identity of the infected employee.

Close contacts of cases should be given instructions on home quarantine and symptom monitoring, information regarding the closest COVID-19 testing sites. Sample language for employee-based COVID-19 exposure notification includes: “You may have been exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace. At this time, we ask that you either get tested or self-quarantine to watch for the potential onset of symptoms.

In accordance with AB 685 (Chapter 84, Statutes of 2020), upon identifying a COVID-19 case in the workplace, you need to provide the following information:

1. Notice to your employees and the employer of subcontracted workers that they may have been exposed to COVID-19: You can inform other workers of the dates that an individual with COVID-19 was at the worksite but should not share information that could identify the affected individual. You must also provide this information to the exclusive labor representative, if any.

2. Information about benefits & options: You must provide your employees with information about COVID-19 benefits under federal, state, or local laws. This includes workers' compensation, company sick leave, state-mandated leave, supplemental sick leave, negotiated leave, and anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination protections.

3. A disinfection & safety plan: You need to inform your employees and the employer of subcontracted workers of your disinfection and safety plan for the worksite, in accordance with CDC guidelines. You must also provide this information to the exclusive labor representative, if any.

COVID-19 Testing

No, not necessarily. Employees may have been exposed to COVID-19 if they were in “close contact” with an infected individual, which is defined as being within six (6) feet of an infected individual for 15 minutes or more. Employees without close contact with the person who is sick can return to work immediately after cleaning and disinfection of affected workplace areas.

No. The Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD) follows CDC’s symptom-based and time-based strategies to determine when a person with COVID-19 may be released from home isolation; the ACPHD does not require or encourage the requirement of a negative test result—or any other additional clearance measures—for an employee to return to work. For more information, please refer to the CDC's Isolation Guidance.

Please note, however, health care personnel and staff at Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs), Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs), Residential Care for the Elderly (RCFE) and other residential sites, will have additional restrictions when returning to work after having COVID-19. See CDC guidance for health care personnel return-to-work criteria.

A viral test (nose or throat swab), which checks for current infection, is recommended to determine if a person can actively transmit COVID-19 to others. Conversely, an antibody test (blood sample), which checks for past infection, is not recommended to determine an employee’s current COIVD-19 status.

For a list of COVID-19 testing sites within Alameda County, please visit the Alameda County Public Health Department Testing for COVID-19 webpage.

If your employee is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, thinks they were exposed to someone who has COVID-19, or the test is otherwise medically necessary for their situation, under federal law, they can obtain a COVID-19 test anywhere and their health plan must pay for the test.

If the employee is an essential worker, does not have symptoms, and does not think they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, they must contact their health plan before getting tested. The health plan must cover the test but will first need to help the employee get an appointment with a testing provider.

Preventing COVID-19 in the Workplace

Employers should continue to reiterate the following COVID-19 prevention messages to employees:

If you are sick, do not come to work.
Remain 6 feet apart from one another, whenever feasible.
Wear a face covering whenever in the same area as others.
Wash hands frequently, with soap and water (or use hand sanitizer with 60%+ alcohol).
Do not touch eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
Disinfect commonly touched areas, daily.

Furthermore, Cal/OSHA has developed guidance on the steps every employer should take to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. Cal/OSHA recommends employers review the guidance relevant to their industry, worksites, county variance guidance and criteria, as well as the guidance on Cal/OSHA safety requirements and existing procedures to ensure the workplace is protected from the spread of COVID-19. See Cal/OSHA Industry Guidance on COVID-19 for industry-specific information on protecting employee’s from COVID-19.

Download a printable version of the Mask Required for Entry Poster, 04/01/2021: English | Chinese (Simplified) | Chinese (Traditional) | Spanish | Vietnamese

Employers should require that all personnel (e.g., employees, contractors, volunteers, etc.) to conduct a self-assessment of symptoms and possible exposure to COVID-19 before the start of each shift.

In accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the following strategies should be executed by employers to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace:

Pre-Screening
Ask employees to self-assess their temperature and symptoms prior to the start of each work shift. Ideally, temperature checks should happen before the individual enters the facility.

Regular Monitoring
Employees without symptoms of COVID-19 should self-monitor under the supervision of their employer’s occupational health program.

Face Covering Requirement
Employees should wear face coverings whenever in the same area as others in the workplace. Employers can issue facemasks or can approve employees’ supplied cloth face coverings in the event of shortages.

Social Distancing Requirement
Whenever possible, employees should maintain a six-foot distance from others and practice social distancing, as work duties permit, in the workplace.

Daily Cleaning and Disinfecting
Clean and disinfect all areas such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, shared electronic equipment routinely, daily.

Download a printable version of the Mask Required for Entry Poster, 04/01/2021: English | Chinese (Simplified) | Chinese (Traditional) | Spanish | Vietnamese

Employers who operate non-healthcare businesses should follow the Alameda County General Business Ventilation Guidance to reduce possible airborne exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19 in rooms and buildings. This guidance should be used for determining the most effective combination of methods for increasing indoor ventilation and air filtration.