As with all things COVID-19 and the workplace, employers should continue to monitor new developments in the legal landscape and consult with knowledgeable advisors on COVID-19 isolation, quarantines and paid leave. Employers should note that in many cases, the updated guidelines will shorten the period during which insured employees will be eligible for emergency sick leave and/or paid family leave/disability benefits from New York under the New York State COVID-19 Leave Act, which requires employers to grant certain leave to employees subject to mandatory quarantine or isolation orders or preventive due to COVID-19. be subject to. The NYS DOH guidelines conveniently provide the who, what, where, when, and how of quarantine – the period during which a person should separate and monitor for symptoms after being in “close contact”[1] with someone who has been or is suspected of having COVID-19 – and isolation – when people with confirmed (tested positive) or suspected COVID-19 (symptomatic) are separated from those without COVID-19. New York State employers are required to pay COVID-19 sick benefits for employees subject to a quarantine or isolation order. According to guidelines published in January 2021, employers are limited to paying these COVID-19 sickness benefits up to a maximum of three times. To be eligible for such paid leave, employees must provide a copy of a quarantine or isolation order or, as explained below, a confirmation of isolation or quarantine. To be eligible for the second and third COVID-19 sickness benefit cases, the employee would have to provide an isolation order based on their own positive COVID-19 test; COVID-19 sickness benefit is not available for quarantine orders for the second and third leaves. You do not need to quarantine as long as you continue to have no symptoms of COVID-19, but you should follow the guidelines below. Individuals who are not up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines (and who have not been infected with COVID-19 in the past 90 days) must quarantine for five (5) days from the date of last contact. These individuals should be tested at least five days after their last close contact, or immediately if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 (and begin isolation as described above if they are positive).

You should also hide 10 days after the last date of close contact. The CDC revised its guidelines for schools and other public places on Aug. 11 to make contact tracing, quarantine, and testing recommendations easier for people who don`t have symptoms after exposure in most settings. The only exceptions are health facilities and high-risk facilities such as correctional facilities and homeless shelters. Asymptomatic individuals who (1) are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines (as defined above) or (2) have been infected with COVID-19 within the past 90 days, as confirmed by a positive viral test (measured from the date the person first developed symptoms of COVID-19 or, if she is asymptomatic, the date of her first positive test) do not need to quarantine. However, you should get tested five days after your last close contact or right after developing symptoms of COVID-19 (and start isolating if you test positive). These individuals must also mask 10 days after the date of the last close contact. CDC guidelines lifted the requirement for preventive quarantine for all people exposed to COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, who remained asymptomatic. The May New York guidelines had previously established critical differences based on vaccination status: people who were up to date with a series of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots did not have to quarantine after a COVID exposure, while those who were not up to date with the latest boosters had to quarantine. Under current CDC guidelines, people exposed to other people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are no longer required to quarantine.

Instead, they should wear a high-quality mask or respirator near others for 10 days and should be tested for the virus five days or more after exposure, even if they don`t develop symptoms. Regardless of vaccination status, people who have symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 must self-isolate for at least five days or 24 hours after symptoms disappear and wear one mask after another for 10 days. While New York appears to have abandoned preventive quarantine by adopting CDC guidelines, the Department of Health and Human Services has also updated its quarantine confirmation form that employees fill out and “can be used as if it were an individual quarantine order issued by a county public health commissioner.” Employees subject to a mandatory or preventive quarantine order may be eligible for paid sick leave after NY COVID-19. Thus, the Department of Health and Human Services still allows employees to use quarantine confirmation to trigger NY COVID-19 paid sick leave for preventive quarantines for themselves or a child or dependent, even if that leave is no longer recommended by the CDC. Test & Trace has kept abreast of all the new pieces affecting New York City, including how we manage isolation, quarantine, and protecting the population from serious illness. New York State recently released updated guidelines for cases and contacts. As previously reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance to shorten its isolation and quarantine requirements. Along with other states and localities, the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) adopted the CDC guidelines on January 4, 2022 and issued a new set of isolation and quarantine guidelines (NYS DOH Guidance) on January 14, 2022.

Also on January 14, 2022, the NYS DOH released a new Frequently Asked Questions for Employers (FAQs) to help employers comply with these new requirements. You can visit the New York State Department of Health website and review updated isolation and quarantine policies for other updates that may occur in the future.