Greetings Teamsters,
We’re reaching out to members again to forward the most recent information and directives regarding the coronavirus, COVID-19.
We want to remind our members not to speak to the media, write about the coronavirus at your campus or medical facility or confirm/deny the existence of coronavirus patients at your campus, unless it is your job to do so. Otherwise, refer all questions from the public to the Office of the President or the office designated by your campus for such requests. Employees may be disciplined for releasing HIPAA-protected medical information.
Comprehensive information from the UC Office of the President as well as links to updates for each individual campus can be found at:
https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2020/01/ucs-response-to-coronavirus.html
The UCOP also sent out the following coronavirus updates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to our Union the morning of March 2, 2020:
Health Care Facilities:
- (2/29) A series of pages was created for Health Care Facilities. Including:
- (2/29) Steps Healthcare Facilities Can Take Now to Prepare for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and
- (2/29) Interim Guidance for Healthcare Facilities: Preparing for Community Transmission of COVID-19 in the United States
Healthcare Professionals:
(2/29) What Healthcare Personnel Should Know about Caring for Patients with Confirmed or Possible COVID-19 Infection includes a pdf on the correct donning and doffing sequence for PPE
They have made page layout improvements to the Conventional Capacity Strategies for Optimizing the supply of N95 respirators to improve the readability of the information.
Ominously, they added a new page (2/29) Crisis/Alternate Strategies. These measures are not commensurate with current U.S. standards of care. However, individual measures or a combination of these measures may need to be considered during periods of expected or known N95 respirator shortages.
They have added a new subsection (3/1) Healthcare Supply of Personal Protective Equipment clarifying who needs PPE.
Who needs PPE:
Patients with confirmed or possible SARS-CoV-2 infection should wear a facemask when being evaluated medically.
Healthcare personnel should adhere to Standard, Contact, and Airborne Precautions, including the use of eye protection (e.g., goggles or a face shield) when caring for patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. These precautions include the use of PPE, including NIOSH-approved N95 respirators, gowns, gloves, face shield/eye protection, etc. This includes, but is not limited to, surgical N95 respirators.
An infographic on COVID-19 PPE for HCP.