The Clovis Chamber of Commerce held another edition of their virtual series Wake Up Clovis on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 9 a.m. with special guest Environmental Health Specialist for the County of Fresno, Thomas Fuller.
Hosted by Clovis Chamber CEO Greg Newman, Fuller spoke to the Zoom meeting attendees about the current state of COVID-19 in the County of Fresno and the City of Clovis. Fuller, also talked about the protocols and guidelines given to employers and employees to help them during the pandemic.
After being introduced by Newman, Fuller said that we are in a very strange time in history and that it seems as though we are in deep water, but we are paddling our way through it.
Fuller mentions that the main goal is to stop the spread of COVID-19. He also said that it is not just about preventing the spread of the virus, but it is to prevent the virus from entering our system.
“Every single breath that you are taking, at least part of that breath has been in someone else’s lungs,” Fuller said. “Through that sharing of air that’s how COVID gets spread around.”
In addition, Fuller mentioned that as of Aug. 25, there had been more than 23,000 people infected and 239 have died from the virus. Fuller said that if anyone wants more up-to-date information about the county they can go to the Fresno County health department website, here.
Fuller went on to introduce Melanie Deto, a public health nurse working with the Fresno County Health Department who talked about the process of testing and isolation.
Deto said that testing for the virus is widely available in Fresno County, but there is a wait time for results and sometimes for testing. One of the reasons for the delay is that labs across the state are backed up. Deto also mentioned that when tested for COVID-19 there needs to be an isolation period until they receive their testing results.
“If they go to work or if they go out to a party in that test period of time, then there is potential to infect other people while they are waiting for results.” Deto said.
Deto mentioned that if a person comes up positive in the test, it is crucial to stay home and quarantine in order to break the “chain” of infections. Deto said that if you were exposed through close contact the Medical Investigation Team (MIT) will trace the contact and issue legal quarantine orders. She also said that all information is protected and confidential and they will not share your name with anyone during the investigation.
Another guest speaker in the meeting was Health Environmental Specialist, Dorothy Cox, who works with the restaurants and fast food services in the county. Cox spoke about what employers should do when an employee test positive for COVID-19.
Cox said the first thing an employer should do after finding out his employee is positive for COVID-19, is not to panic. Next, it is crucial to find out the last day the employee worked and if they were at work, 48 hours before the symptoms began or before they got their positive test.
If they were at work then it is important to find out if they were wearing a mask through their work day and if they were wearing one while in close contact with other employees.
“If someone infected and a co-worker were within six feet for 15 minutes or more and were not wearing their mask properly then we’re in some trouble,” Cox said. “That is close contact and the other person needs to be quarantined for 14 days.”
She also stressed the importance of sanitizing, recommending the cleaning and sanitizing of commonly touched areas such as door handles, phones, countertops, plastic separators and touchpads among others.
Another thing Cox mentioned was that the county does not force any businesses to close, instead give recommendations on cleaning and sanitation. She said it is up to the business to close down for deep cleaning and that some businesses have closed a few hours while others for a few weeks.
“Clean like your life depends on it, because someone’s life could,” Cox said. “Our criteria is the minimum, anything you (the business) want to do above and beyond that is up to you (the business).”
Fuller continued the conversation and talked about what to do to slow the spread of COVID-19. He said that is crucial for a business to have written protocols and procedures on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Having a written document helps the business to be protected legally.
One more thing Fuller talked about was the department’s role in contacting businesses about positive cases. He said that the department might call the business or that they might go out and check to follow up on the positive case. Also he mentions that they also get complaints from the public and employees and that they do respond to those complaints.
“If we want to get back to business as normal we have to reduce those numbers, if we follow those simple guidelines then our numbers will decrease,” Fuller said “The (virus) is a deadly serious thing and we have to take it very seriously.”
At the end of the meeting Newman thanked Fuller and his team for sharing all the information and announced the next Wake Up Clovis event to be held Wednesday, Sept. 9 featuring Susan Seruby, Director of Adult, Child, Adolescent Psychiatry and Reception Services at Kaiser Permanente.