2021 COVID Policy for Home Repairs and Home Visits
For staff, contractors, volunteers, and hires.
(Share policy and support COVID safety for anyone you hire or any work you coordinate)
Always feel confident in delaying or halting work with any COVID concerns!
This policy is informed by research of best practices and threats of the new strains. Therefore it overrides what individual contractors or homeowners are comfortable with, but let’s try to share where we’re coming from.
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Attaching this summary/ source I found really helpful.
Dr. James Stein.
“COVID-19 update for January 14, 2021, or, “How to survive the 4th and worst wave of the pandemic.” TL;DR: what you did to keep safe in summer and fall aren’t good enough now that we are indoors and have more transmissible strains; trade in your cloth mask for a N95 or a surgical mask with a mask fitter; stay home; get vaccinated asap.
Today’s reality in the United States that we are having record new infections (~250,000 per day) and deaths (~4,000 per day!) due to COVID-19 infection. We only now are seeing the effect of Christmas travel. The effects of New Year’s Day travel and parties will follow. On top this, we have several new mutations in circulation, some of which increase transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by up to 70%, which his huge, given that the virus spreads exponentially. The B.1.1.7 variant is spreading and soon will be everywhere in the US. It already has led to massive outbreaks in parts of Europe and Africa.
What you did to avoid getting infected in summer and fall is not enough now that we are indoors where respiratory aerosols accumulate and on top of that, we are fighting a more virulent viral strain. That means you need to respect the virus, not get complacent, not get frustrated, and double down on protecting yourself and others. How do you do that?
1. Most important is to stay home. Limit your time in any indoor public place, especially restaurants and bars, or anywhere people are congregating and talking, yelling, and/or singing. These are the places where viral transmission occurs most readily. The restaurant or bar you like to go to where people are “being careful” is not a safe place, even though it may appear that people are distanced and you see a lot of hand sanitizing and wiping of surfaces. “It looks safe” is a cognitive bias, on your part, facilitated by mixed health messages and motivated reasoning. You have little idea how safe you are, pretty much anywhere that you go, outside of your home. In general, when community infection rates are high (like they are now), going anywhere is unsafe, so if you must go, plan in advance for what you need, minimize your time indoors, distance while doing your activity, and get out. Of course, favor places that require people to wear a mask and enforce it, and wear one yourself. I recommend a mask fitter and face shield, as well. See below.
2. Masks, mask fitters, and face shields. It is time to upgrade what you have been wearing. The cloth, DIY masks from last spring were a stop-gap effort while the supply of higher grade surgical masks couldn’t meet demand. That situation has changed, at least in the US. The best mask is a N95 or equivalent respirator, but they still are hard to come by and many fakes are on the market, see: https://www.theatlantic.com/.../why-arent-we.../617656/
If you can’t wear a N95, I recommend a surgical mask, preferably 3-4 ply and ASTM level 3 or higher, like this: https://www.amazon.com/ASTM-Level-4-Ply.../dp/B08CBM2YS1. This is what I wear when I shop, but I also add a mask fitter or mask brace, which will create a better seal and increase the filtering effectiveness of your mask, quite a bit, in some cases, pretty close to a N95. I use the Badger Seal, see: https://making.engr.wisc.edu/mask-fitter/ Some evidence for a different kind of fitter, is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/emp2.12335
Pro-tip: if you don’t like the way the loops feel on your ears, get or make a strap extender, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Extender-Anti-Slip.../dp/B0873CZ6G5
Pro-tip #2: add a face shield to keep your mask from getting soiled and to protect your eyes. I use this: https://www.amazon.com/.../ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin...
These are easy, inexpensive, and effective measures. They become more effective the more people that use them. They give you protection while you are out doing only what you need to do.
3. What about hand hygiene? It is important, but this is a respiratory disease, transmitted by droplets and aerosols, so don’t let “hygiene theater” – the visible, nearly incessant public process of wiping surfaces, spraying a disinfectants, and hand sanitizers lull you into security. Sure, it makes sense to keep your hands out of your mouth and eyes, to sanitize or wash your hands after you leave a public place, use the bathroom, and to wipe down frequently touched surfaces at the end of the day, but the net benefit is small. It’s not wrong. I actually am quite a germaphobe and wipe and wash more than I need to, but I never mistake public cleaning for what really matters: population density, airflow, masks – and especially the background infection rate in the community.
4. Get vaccinated as soon as you can. The vaccines are a major way out of this mess, but if hesitancy remains high, we may never reach the 80% or more we need to really be safe, especially in the face of mutations. I’d like to hug people and go without a mask and face shield. I’d like to a sporting event, concert, movie, show, and restaurant again. We need everyone vaccinated. The vaccines are proving to be incredibly effective and safe. The early worries about anaphylaxis, Bell’s Palsy, etc really have not panned out. Anaphylaxis is less than with penicillin and other concerns seem to be at the background rate in the US. Ignore the noise from social media that says the vaccine was not adequately tested or it’s too soon to know about safety. That’s pure BS – these vaccines were developed quickly because steps that usually go in series (preclinical, evaluate, develop next phase, get fudging, phase I, evaluate, develop best phases, get funding, etc, then upscale production) were done almost in parallel. No corners were cut. FYI, I have received my two shots and felt fine other than a mildly sore arm and mild headache, pretty much like a flu shot. The vast majority of people feel the same – ignore the noise of “my friend was crushed by it.” You don’t hear about all of the non-stories – only the outliers.
The US problem is distribution and that is on the federal and state governments. Get on the phone with your Governor and tell him or her that you want vaccines distributed ASAP. Have him or her release money to put the infrastructure in place to make it happen. Call your Rep and Senator and them the same thing. Public health is not a partisan issue and the virus doesn’t care how you vote. Though a Republican administration aided and abetted this public health disaster, many Democratic Governors have been feckless, so put some pressure on them and remember what they did to kill and harm so many people in 2022. PS – don’t call your primary care doctor. They have no control over who gets vaccinated when and they are in the dark like you are.
5. Finally, if you had COVID-19 and feel healthy again, I am happy for you, because long COVID appears to be a horrible way to live. Remember that you still need to socially distance and to wear a mask. Not everyone is immune after the infection and even if you had antibodies back then, it is likely that your immunity (not measured by antibodies, BTW) is waning, especially if your infection was 6 or more months ago. Cases of reinfection are on the rise – I don’t know why anyone is shocked when they get it again. When you go out to the bar or are lax with your mask, you normalize irresponsible behavior and risk infecting yourself and others.
The next 4-6 weeks are going to get very ugly. We might see days with over 5000 deaths a day. The only way we can avoid that is to take dramatic action, right now. Stay home. When you must leave, wear a real mask (N95 or surgical with a mask fitter), avoid places where people congregate, are drinking alcohol, or don’t appear to be following the rules, and be grateful that you are alive, healthy, and can smell and taste food.”