4/12/2021 Volunteer Debrief Notes.

 

 

Updates from MDHHS.

Despite previous statements, there are plans to make the changes concerning 14-day quarantine.

We should start seeing contacts coming in as early as Thursday with 14-day quarantine dates.

• This will only apply to new contacts post that date. Existing contacts in monitoring will not be changed to 14 days.

Starting today there is going to be a choice for LHD's to declare whether they want to switch to 14 days or remain in the 10-day quarantine.

• Despite recommendations from the state and CDC, there is a possibility that some health departments may remain in the 10-day quarantine. With this we may on occasion see new contacts with 10-day quarantines. It will be based upon whatever choice their LHD made.

 

Q: A lot of tracers are running into households with children whose parents are being told by the schools that they should be quarantining for 14 days instead of 10. What is the solution?

A: A lot of that is caused by the difficulty in relaying messages across all channels equally.

• The state is now hoping that the incoming changes to 14 days quarantine in trace force should eliminate this issue and cut back on some of the confusion.

Q: Until that time comes, what should we be telling parents in this scenario?

A: Stick with what the school is advising. If the school has instructed the parent to quarantine their child for 14 days, then assure them that it's okay to abide by that.

• If their LHD follows 10-day quarantine then we can also advise them to reach out to that department if there is a need for the child to return to school sooner than 14 days.

 

 

Q: Why are local health departments given the option to pick 10 days if the CDC and MDHHS feels 14 days is better?

A: It is because of the way Michigan's health laws are written and constructed. Michigan is a home rule state, which means there is a delegation of power from the state to its sub-units of governments.

• This is what gives each county the power to make these kinds of decisions.

Q: Why can a contact still available to other tracers while you are currently working on it?

A: We don't know why it happens, but our solution to this issue is being consistent is utilizing placeholder notes. Instruction on this is within the handbook as well as the volunteer chatter.

Q: Upon getting no answer to a follow up call, Traceforce doesn't allow us to save until you check if the contact is responding for the entire household. Should we just automatically check no for this question?

A: We are selecting Yes for this script question to prevent the next household member from automatically queuing up.

Q: Are we still abiding by the 90-day vaccination rule?

A: There is no longer a 90-day restriction on what is considered fully vaccinated. This was updated in the newer version of the handbook.

• If someone has completed all their vaccine doses, their contact start date is more than 14 days past their last vaccine dose, and they are free of symptoms at the time of you speaking to them, then they no longer need to quarantine.

Q: Is there still verbiage on the 90-day restriction in the script?

A: It is still in the script, but we should not be utilizing this verbiage. This information is covered in the latest version of the handbook.