COVID-19 Workplace Exposure Employer Toolkit

Step 1: Isolate positive individual and sanitize

When an employee tests positive for COVID-19, the employee should be sent home immediately to isolate away from other individuals. The employee should be directed to follow the CDPH Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine. Also, let the employee know that they can contact Dial 2-1-1 if additional resources are needed to successfully isolate.  

Clean/disinfect workplace where employee(s) with COVID-19 have been at work. Refer to the California Department of Public Health's Workplace Guidance for info on cleaning/disinfecting.

Step 2: Identify and Notify Workplace Close Contacts

The employer must identify and notify all close contacts of the positive person about quarantine requirements. See Responding to COVID-19 in the Workplace for Employers for detail on this process. A “close contact” is defined as someone who was sharing the same indoor airspace, e.g., home, clinic waiting room, airplane, etc., for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes) during an infected person's (laboratory-confirmed or a clinical diagnosis) infectious period.

Maintain Confidentiality: Employers should keep employees’ medical information confidential in accordance with federal and state laws. Do not disclose the identity of the COVID-19 positive worker in your effort to identify close contacts. Please consult with your attorney if you have any questions about applicable employment or privacy laws.

Close contacts need to follow the CDPH Guidance on Isolation and Quarantine.

Step 3: Notify Nevada County Public Health (Optional)

Nevada County does not require the reporting of non-Healthcare workplace outbreaks. However,  businesses may voluntarily report COVID-19 cases or outbreaks to the Public Health Department through the SPOT Intake Form.

Step 4: Determine when it is appropriate for positive individuals to come back to work

Employees who test positive are required to follow the guidance below regardless of vaccination status, previous infection or lack of symptoms.

• Stay home for at least 5 days. After 5 days, if symptoms have resolved and you have no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine, you can leave isolation. Wear a mask for 10 days. If you have two negative tests taken on sequential days (for example, days 6 and 7) you are not required to wear a mask.
• Per CalOSHA requirements, a mask is required to be worn for the full 10 days while at work. There is no testing out early.
• If fever is present, isolation should be continued until fever resolves. 
• If symptoms, other than fever, are not resolving continue to isolate until symptoms are resolving or until after day 10.
• Wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings (see Section below on masking for additional information)

*Antigen test preferred.

Step 5: Maintain a safe work environment

Do not allow employees to come to work or remain at work if they have any COVID-like symptoms. 

Please know that it is not recommended for people who test positive for COVID to retest for the next 30 days and may continue to test positive for up to 3 months and not be infectious to others. The latest data suggests that retesting someone in the thirty (30) days following initial infection is not necessary unless that person is exhibiting the symptoms of COVID-19 and the symptoms cannot be associated with another illness.  Once the isolation period has ended, people are not considered infectious and can return to work, school, and/or other activities without a negative test.  

Employers are subject to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) or in some workplaces the Cal/OSHA Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) Standard, and should consult those regulations for additional applicable requirements except as noted below and in Cal/OSHA FAQs.