Current COVID Info
Recent Changes/Things to Be Aware Of
- 6/1: Masks may be removed in small meetings areas (non-clinical) if ALL
present are vaccinated (wearing badge buddy). If a person comes in that
is not vaccinated - everyone must wear a mask
-
6/1: Caregiver Health is no longer managing return to work for personal
travel. Caregivers are expected to follow CDC guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-risk.html) for safe travel. If you develop any symptoms of COVID or receive a positive
test, please contact Caregiver Health. We are still asking that employees
delay non-essential travel wherever possible.
- 6/1: Covenant Children's will host children's vaccination events
June 6,12,19,26,3,10 for children 12-15 (per the FDA's recently expanded
Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer vaccine).
- 4/30: Fully vaccinated caregivers will no longer be required to wear face
shields while within six feet of non-covid patients. While this change
is based on current covid hospitalizations and positivity rates declining,
it is subject to change and the requirement for wearing face shields may
be reinstated. Fully vaccinated caregivers will be provided a lime green
placard or “badge buddy” that will be worn behind the caregiver’s
badge to indicate their vaccine status. These placards will be available
soon and will be distributed to caregivers through their core leader.
Individual’s vaccine status will be verified by either the caregiver
producing their vaccine card or being verified through caregiver health.
Unvaccinated caregivers must continue to wear faceshields when within
6 feet of patients. Noncompliance will be addressed appropriately by department
leaders using HR correction policy
- 4/5: Online dailyshiftscreening.providence.org tool discontinued due to
staff vaccinations, minimal caregivers out due to COVID, and continued
in-person screening. Staff may stop completing the tool each day and supervisors
may use the "Manager" tab to unsubscribe from daily emails.
Staff are still required to report any COVID symptoms to their immediate
supervisor and employee health and to not report to work prior to checking
with employee health if they are symptomatic. Please note that even if
you're vaccinated you may still be able to spread COVID - treat symptoms
seriously to protect your fellow caregivers and patients and their families.
- 3/10: Mask reprocessing has been discontinued for the time being due to
imrpoved supply chain access to masks.
-
3/2: Governor Abbott announces end of State-wide mask mandate and moves
to "open Texas 100%".
Please note that Covenant's masking guidance remains unchanged. Masking is still thought to be an effective preventative mesure and we
will follow the CDC's guidance around when it's appropriate to
relax masking. Until then, please continue to wear your masks - for the
safety of yourself, your fellow caregivers, and our patients! Recent research
indicates that her immunity may be reached between June and mid-September
-
2/25: COVID Tent outside CCH Plaza Building closed after treating
875 patients, with monoclonal antibodies and Remdesivir, over the prior 3 months. Strong
work from JACC (Shelly Biggs and team), Pharmacy, Lab, Respiratory, EVS,
Facilities, and all others involved in making this a reality!
- 2/12: Visitor policy changed to allow 2 visitors per patient except for
COVID posiitive patients
- 2/10: "Caring for COVID Patients / Normalization of COVID" information
added - including educational videos for frontline staff
- 2/9: "Swab and Go" testing at CCH ceased after 2/12/21. This
was started to ease the way for our caregivers but we are now only averaging
2 tests/day. Over 459 caregivers were tested with average time at drive
up of 5 minutes and average time to get results of less than 18 hours
(with many getting results same day). Thank you to Marybeth Murphey for
helping operationalize this great service - as well as all the staff who
helped staff the drive-up!
- 2/1: We have received questions regarding if Covenant will make vaccines
available for family members of caregivers. While we would love to be
able to, due to State restrictions on distribution, we are not able to
offer vaccines for family members of caregivers. While we believe and
appreciate that family members are at increased risk, the State is trying
to ensure equitable access for everyone and we can lose access to any
future vaccine distributions if we do not follow the State's guidelines.
We encourage family members of our caregivers to speak with their PCP
as soon as they meet the State's current roll-out eligibility criteria.
-
1/21: Caregivers have until January 21 to decide if they want to be vaccinated
via Covenant's efforts. After this point we will no longer be providing the 1st dose of vaccine to our Lubbock caregivers. Please review the "Vaccination Distribution" guidance below for
more info.
- 1/7: Masking After Vaccination info added; Covenant still requires masks
for all caregivers even after the second vaccination as science still
does not know if you can still contract and spread COVID after vaccination
-
12/21: Vaccination has been opened to all caregivers. At this point approximately 2,300 out of roughly 8,000 caregivers have
been vaccinated. Please view the Vaccine Distribution page below to learn
how to register for an open slot.
-
12/18:
- Moderna's vaccine was approved;
- Providence vaccine presentation featuring Rod Hochman and team, including
a FAQ, has been posted
- 12/16: Covenant begins vaccinating caregivers. Vaccine FAQs are below
- 12/15: Covenant receives first COVID vaccines
- 12/10: Pfizer's vaccine was approved
- 12/9: Vaccination Information added below - please note vaccination information
is subject to change; employees are requested to complete the Validate
and Verify process detailed by 12/11
- 11/30: Gloves raw materials shortage and increasing demand are impacting
worldwide. Expecting to have to supplement Medline allocation with other
types of gloves to meet surge demand in December. Pursuing 30+ suppliers
and will vet through System IP.
- 11/30: Due to potential national shortages of sterile non-wovens (drapes,
gowns, leggings, Mayo stand covers, etc.), please review the "Surgical
Gown Shortage SBAR" below
- 11/23: CCH began offering "Swab and Go" COVID testing for Covenant
Health employees - please review guidance below. As of 12/21: over 150
caregivers have used this service
Most Current Guidances
Please note that some links will require you to login using your Active
Directory/Windows login in order to access SharePoint and Lucidoc hosted
files-pages.
Caring for COVID Patients / Normalization of COVID
Due to low COVID census and the ability to care for COVID patients on regular
units, with little risk when following proper standards of care, CCH begun
on 2/5 the process of normalizing care of COVID patients by having COVID
patients remain on the unit best suited for their respective care. Please see
Caring for COVID Patients on Non-COVID Dedicated Units for more information and education materials.
Vaccine Distribution
Masking and Visitor Guidances
Caregiver Health
Other
Educational Info Re COVID
If you encounter issues accessing information on this portal, have something
to add, etc. - please contact Lucas Divine at
divinela1@providence.org