DOH issues return-to-work guidelines

May 18 ------ The Department of Health (DOH) has issued guidelines for employees who will be returning to work on Monday (May 18) as the government eased quarantine restrictions in some areas of the country. Health Undersecretary Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire said that testing for coronavirus disease is not mandatory for those who will return to work. “[The] IATF (Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) resolution stated that in no case shall testing be a condition for return to work, so we expect that specific agencies shall implement and enforce the IATF resolution,” said Vergeire in a Viber message to reporters. “Our protocol is to guide employers, we have emphasized that symptomatic screening is ideal, and test only when symptomatic,” she added. For employers who are still opting to test asymptomatic workers, they may do a “representative sample” testing. “Employers who opt to conduct testing may do so in a representative sample of those who have returned to work physically and have a high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of the work,” DOH Department Memorandum No. 2020-220 states. The DOH noted that the “cost of the test not covered by PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) shall be borne by the employer.” “Testing using RT-PCR among representatives can be conducted to look for any evidence of asymptomatic transmitters,” the guideline stated. “If tested positive, the returning employee/worker is a COVID-19 case and will be isolated and referred accordingly for appropriate management… If found negative, returning employee/worker can continue working with usual precautions,” it added. “If initially tested negative but developed symptoms, the employee must be tested accordingly,” it read further. The memorandum also stated that “testing using FDA-approved rapid antibody-based tests among representative samples for baseline can also be conducted up to every 14-days,” it added. Also stated in the guidelines is that employers shall ensure that the workspace is properly disinfected, ventilated, and maintained. Employers should also conduct daily temperature and symptom monitoring and recording of all staff who report to work. Infection control procedures such as physical distancing, wearing of face mask, hand hygiene, and cough etiquette, among others, must also be observed, the DOH said. “Appropriate PPE [personal protective equipment] shall be worn based on the setting of their work (face shields and masks for those who render service via face-to-face encounters, full PPE for frontline healthcare workers etc.),” it said. Source: mb.com.ph