LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has released recommendations for employers on how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces.
The state is currently experiencing 261 cases per million people per day, more than double from last month. Percent positivity has increased to 7.5% from 5.5% a week ago. Hospitalizations, which tend to appear two to four weeks after cases, have been rising over the past five weeks.
Currently, there are 28 documented COVID-19 outbreaks in an office setting and the number of new outbreaks reported continue to increase weekly. Office settings make up 5% of all documented outbreaks, and 7% of new outbreaks identified in the last week. Additionally, 8.3% of current outbreaks are in manufacturing and construction and 33% of those were first identified in the last week.
“Given the available data and concerning increase in COVID-19 cases, employers have a crucial role to play in ensuring employees who must come to work are operating in a safe environment,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health said in a press release Friday. “Employers should adopt practices to make workplaces as safe as possible and work should be completed remotely unless it is strictly necessary for an employee to be in person to complete their job duties.”
Consistent with emergency rules enacted by the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity on Oct. 14, if any in-person work is being conducted, employers should be sure to take the following steps to protect the health of their employees:
- Create a COVID preparedness plan
- Establish clear workplace procedures
- Strengthen workplace cleaning and disinfection procedures
- Collaborate with local health departments
MDHHS also said employers should allow their employees to work from home, if possible, to minimize the presence of individuals gathered in work settings where COVID-19 may spread. The state health department went on to say employers should only permit in-person work if a worker is unable to physically complete required job tasks from a remote setting, such as food service or auto assembly workers, or a job involving protected data that cannot be accessed remotely.
A full list of employee and workplace safety resources is available online.
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