COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for MIGIZI Communications

 

MIGIZI Communications (aka MIGIZI) is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our workers and youth, families and community partners. To ensure we have a safe and healthy workplace, MIGIZI Communications has developed the following COVID-19 Preparedness Plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers and workers are all responsible for implementing this plan. Our goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 in our workplaces and communities, and that requires full cooperation among our workers and management. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of all persons in our workplaces.

 

The COVID-19 Preparedness Plan is administered by Kelly Drummer, MIGIZI President who maintains the overall authority and responsibility for the plan. However, management and workers are equally responsible for supporting, implementing, complying with and providing recommendations to further improve all aspects of this COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. MIGIZI’s managers and supervisors have our full support in enforcing the provisions of this plan.

Our workers are our most important assets. MIGIZI is serious about safety and health and protecting our workers. Worker involvement is essential in developing and implementing a successful COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. We have involved our workers in this process by: Meeting with staff on an ongoing basis throughout the many months of the pandemic to discuss appropriate covid-19 prevention safety protocols and precautions

 

MIGIZI’s COVID-19 Preparedness Plan follows the industry guidance developed by the state of Minnesota, available at the Stay Safe Minnesota website (https://staysafe.mn.gov), which is based upon Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines for COVID-19, Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MNOSHA) statutes, rules and standards, and Minnesota’s relevant and current executive orders. It addresses:

• ensuring sick workers stay home and prompt identification and isolation of sick persons;

• social distancing – workers must be at least six-feet apart;

• worker hygiene and source controls, including face coverings;

• workplace building and ventilation protocol;

• workplace cleaning and disinfection protocol;

• drop-off, pick-up and delivery practices and protocol; and

• communications and training practices and protocol.

MIGIZI has reviewed and incorporated the industry guidance applicable to our business provided by the state of Minnesota for the development of this plan, including the following industry guidance: Child Care and Youth Programs. Other conditions and circumstances included in the industry guidance and addressed in the plan that are specific to our business include:

• Limiting the number of youth to 20 Youth in our shared programming spaces

• Providing all youth a face covering with PPE upon request

• Keeping an ongoing and accurate record of all individuals who are in our space

• Cleaning our office and programming space 3 times a week

• Providing Hand Sanitizer throughout our shared spaces and in each office

• Provide a portable barrier for any youth who requests one for study space

 

Ensure sick workers stay home and prompt identification and isolation of sick persons

 

MIGIZI staff have been informed of and encouraged to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The following policies and procedures are being implemented to assess workers’ health status prior to entering the workplace and for workers to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms.

 

MIGIZI has also implemented a policy for informing workers if they have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 at their workplace and requiring them to quarantine for the required amount of time. After identifying the COVID-19 symptoms, individuals should choose one of two possible paths.

 

First path

1. Use this first path when the person has only one symptom from the list of less common symptoms.

2. Next, evaluate the symptom to decide if the person is well enough to stay in our program. Siblings and all others who live in the house DO NOT need to go home or stay home.

3. If they are well enough, the person may attend or stay in the program.

4. If they are not well enough, the person must stay home or be sent home.

5. If the person goes home and does not get additional symptoms, they can return to school or the program 24 hours after the symptom improved. If the person goes home, they should consider an evaluation from a doctor/health care provider and/or getting a COVID-19 test.

6. If the person gets an evaluation and/or a COVID-19 test, they should follow the second path detailed below.

 

Second path

1. Use the second path when the person has one more common symptom or at least two less common symptoms, when a person has any symptom while under quarantine, or when a person who started in the first path decides to get an evaluation from a doctor or other health care provider and/or get a COVID-19 test.

2. The person must stay home or is sent home, and their siblings and others who live with them must stay home or are also sent home.

3. If the person does not get an evaluation from a doctor or another health care provider or get a COVID- 19 test, they must stay at home away from others (isolation), including those who live in the house if possible, for at least 10 days starting from the time their symptoms started and until their symptoms have improved and they have no fever for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medications. Siblings and all others who live with them must stay home and stay away from all activities for at least 14 days (quarantine). Day 1 of quarantine starts the day after their last day of contact (Day 0) with the person who has COVID-19 symptoms. For household members of someone with COVID-19, quarantine starts after the person with COVID-19 completes their isolation period. If multiple people in the home have COVID-19, the 14 days start after the last person has completed their isolation. This may mean that other household members will need to quarantine for 24 days or more.

4. If the person is told by their doctor or other health care provider that their symptoms are from something else (alternate diagnosis), and not from COVID-19, they can then go back to the program 24 hours after their symptoms have improved or as directed by their doctor or other health care provider. Siblings and other people they live with now no longer need to stay home or to stay away from other activities and can return to school or program.

5. If the person tests negative for COVID-19, they can go back to the program 24 hours after their symptoms have improved. Siblings and other people they live with now do not need to stay home or to stay away from other activities and can return to programming.

6. If the person tests positive for COVID-19, they must stay at home away from others (isolation), including those who live in the house if possible, for at least 10 days, starting from the time their symptoms started and until their symptoms have improved and they have no fever for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medications. Siblings and all others who live with them must stay home and stay away from all activities for at least 14 days (quarantine), starting with the day they last had contact with the person who has COVID-19 symptoms.

 

Social distancing – Workers must be at least six-feet apart

 

Social distancing of at least six feet will be implemented and maintained between workers and all youth, families, guests, visitors and community partners in the workplace through the following engineering and administrative controls: We will require staff implement social distancing guidelines in all interactions. MIGIZI will have no more than twenty youth in our space at any one time in keeping with guidelines set forth by the Minnesota Department of Health. MIGIZI has posted signage, markings and instructions to address social distancing. 

 

MIGIZI has created a paperless check-in for youth when entering the building to reduce sharing pens or other office equipment at the front entrance. Personal protective equipment, phones, pens, computer equipment, desks, workstations, offices or other personal work tools and equipment will not be shared and, if used by more than one person, will be cleaned and disinfected between users. MIGIZI will require protective supplies, such as face coverings, gloves, hand sanitizer and instruction about when and how they should be worn or used.

 

Staff hygiene and source controls

 

Basic infection prevention measures are being implemented at our workplaces at all times. Staff are asked to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water frequently throughout the day, but especially at the beginning and end of their shift, prior to any mealtimes and after using the restroom. All youth, staff, and community members entering the workplace are required to wash or sanitize their hands prior to or immediately upon entering the facility. Hand-sanitizer dispensers (that use sanitizers of greater than 60% alcohol) are at entrances and locations in the workplace so they can be used for hand hygiene in place of soap and water, as long as hands are not visibly soiled. MIGIZI supplies two hand sanitizer dispensers in our space, along with individual bottles of hand sanitizer at workstations. Source controls are being implemented at our workplaces at all times. Staff are being instructed to cover their mouth and nose with their sleeve or a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and to avoid touching their face, particularly their mouth, nose and eyes, with their hands. Staff and all youth, parents, and community members are expected to dispose of tissues in provided trash receptacles and wash or sanitize their hands immediately afterward. Respiratory etiquette will be demonstrated on posters and supported by making tissues and trash receptacles available to all staff and other persons entering the workplace.

 

Workplace building and ventilation protocol

 

Operation of the building in which the workplace is located, includes necessary sanitation, assessment and maintenance of building systems, including water, plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. MIGIZI has one large air purifier in the rear room of the building where youth and staff gather for media production. The maximum amount of fresh air is being brought into the workplace, air recirculation is being limited, and ventilation systems are being properly used and maintained. Steps are also being taken to minimize air flow blowing across people.

 

Workplace cleaning and disinfection protocol

 

MIGIZI has instituted regular practices of cleaning and disinfecting have been implemented, including a schedule for routine cleaning and disinfecting of work surfaces, equipment, tools and hardware, vehicles and areas in the work environment, including restrooms, offices, counters, and meeting rooms. Frequent cleaning and disinfecting is being conducted of high-touch areas, including phones, keyboards, touch screens, controls, door handles, elevator panels, railings, copy machines, credit card readers, delivery equipment, etc.

Appropriate and effective cleaning and disinfecting supplies have been purchased and are available for use in accordance with product labels, safety data sheets and manufacturer specifications, and are being used with required personal protective equipment for the product.

 

Drop-off, pick-up and delivery practices and protocol

 

MIGIZI requires all persons delivering or dropping-off material to the space, picking up material from the space will be required to wear face-coverings and maintain social distancing of six-feet.

 

Communications and training practices and protocol

 

This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan was communicated via the MIGIZI staff email list and document sharing to all workers the week of March 29, 2021, and necessary training was provided during staff meetings on April 2 and April 9. Additional communication and training will be ongoing during regularly weekly staff meetings. Training will be provided to all workers who did not receive the initial training and prior to initial assignment or reassignment.

Instructions will be communicated to all workers, including employees, temporary workers, staffing and independent contractors, subcontractors, vendors and outside technicians and youth, parents and families, community partners about protections and protocols, including: 1) social distancing protocols and practices; 2) drop-off, pick-up, delivery and general in-store shopping; 3) practices for hygiene and respiratory etiquette; 4) requirements regarding the use of face-coverings and/or face-shields by staff, youth, parents and families and community partners. All staff, youth, parents and families, community partners will also be advised not to enter the workplace if they are experiencing symptoms or have contracted COVID-19. MIGIZI's President and the Director of Operations and Partnerships are expected to monitor how effective the program has been implemented with the use of regular check-ins during weekly staff meetings.

 

All staff  are to take an active role and collaborate in carrying out the various aspects of this plan, and update the protections, protocols, work-practices and training as necessary. This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan has been certified by MIGIZI Communications management and the plan was posted throughout the workplace and made readily available to employees the week of March 29, 2021. It will be updated as necessary by the Director of Operations and Partnerships