Here we are in August of 2022, and members continue to tell us about guests and staff testing positive for COVID-19. In the week prior to the last issue of Street Smart, the daily average for new cases was 133,678. Citygate Network hasn’t felt the need to send any new bulletins or hold an all-member call because the virus has become part of our everyday lives. (We talked to one member CEO recently who has now had the virus four times.)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for shelters has not changed in several months. It does have a lot of new information about revaccination, which comes with a number of cautions. Test anyone experiencing symptoms. Those who test positive in your guest/client population should quarantine as previously directed. Staff and volunteers with COVID-19 should stay home until they test negative or have not experienced symptoms for 10 days (which you can opt to reduce if you have a staff shortage, per the CDC), and remain fever-free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication).
Even with all that, everyone returning to work should still wear a mask in public for five more days. In fact, everyone should wear a properly fitting mask as much as possible in congregant settings. The CDC has updated COVID-19 guidance for congregant shelters to be released in a couple weeks. The CDC has also created a new email to address questions from anyone running a shelter. Check the August 1, 2022 issue of Street Smart for that address