This morning, Kevin Graney had a discussion with Electric Boat’s Medical Directors, Dr. Susan Andrews and Dr. Robert Hurley. They discussed some of the most commonly-asked questions about COVID-19 and how it is impacting the EB workplace.
Note: This conversation was recorded before midday on Wednesday, April 1. At that time, there was one confirmed case of COVID-19 at EB.
Please visit this link to listen to this conversation on EB Landing. This file can also be accessed via Homeport. Please see transcript below.
EB Communications
Coronavirus Update: EB’s Medical Directors Answer Employees Most Frequently Asked Questions
Hi everyone, it’s Kevin. It’s Wednesday, April 1, and I’m recording this podcast mid-morning. We’re doing something a little different today because I thought you’d appreciate hearing directly from our medical leaders, Dr. Andrews and Dr. Hurley. So they’ll be answering the questions that they’re getting most frequently from you and your colleagues.
Doc Andrews, can you tell us how we can protect our family best?
You can social distance yourself, that’s the six-foot rule. Wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, avoid sharing personal products, clean surfaces, wash your clothes frequently and keep air flowing. So open your doors and windows at home just to get the air flowing and get the germs out of there.
That’s good advice, thank you.
Doc Hurley, a lot of people are concerned—if they go out sick on COVID-19, how do they get paid?
It’s fairly straightforward. If you leave the workplace secondary to illness due to COVID, you would call our short-term disability provider Sedgwick, the phone number is 1-800-416-1808. If you’re in the state of RI, you would apply for TDI (temporary disability insurance) and if you have questions, please call our Benefits department (see links to Benefits numbers in Homeport and EB Landing).
Thanks Doc. Our Benefits department is ready, willing and able to help anybody who becomes ill due to COVID-19. Yesterday we had our first case, and one of the things we learned about the individual who is sick is they are eager to return to work. Doc Andrews, can you tell us about the protocol if you get sick and it’s time to return, what do you have to do?
The first thing you have to do is get cleared through Medical, either through the Yard Hospital or the Dispensary. You have to be without a fever for at least 72 hours, and that’s without using Motrin or Tylenol, your symptoms have to be improving to almost gone, and lastly you have to have been out of work for a minimum of at least 7 – 14 days. But if you’re sick with COVID, you may be out for even longer than that.
That’s good to know we’ve got a path to bring people back to work, although there are hurdles we’ve got to get people through first. Doc Hurley, tell us a little bit about what EB is doing to try to keep everyone safe.
We’re doing several things. We’re following CDC guidance, as well as our local departments of health. We are advocating for social distancing, we recommend increased use of hand sanitizer, one of the newer developments is working from home, and our facilities and housekeeping has increased their routine cleaning of high touch-points such as door knobs and work surfaces. They are making more cleaning products accessible and available. And with regard to density of workers, we’re increasing the flexibility with shifts in schedules. We’re making it easier for people to stay home if they’re sick and we’ve set up a hotline (860-433-3470). We’ve been monitoring temperatures of people working on the 792 boat, and we’ve greatly reduced training and testing for EB workers.
Thanks Doc. One of the things I’ve been doing when I talk to folks in the yard, I talk about what we can do to stay healthy. I know this is a really stressful time, so it’s easy to lose sight of those practices that keep us healthy normally. Doc Andrews, tell me a little bit about what we can do to keep healthy.
These are things we should be doing all the time, and they become more important when we’re under stress. Eat right, stay hydrated, get lots of rest, and then you have to add in our new normal, social distancing, hand washing. The really new one is to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth—keeping your hands away from your face to decrease your risk.
Doc Andrews, what do I do if I’m not feeling good while I’m at work or I’m home and realize I don’t feel well?
If you’re at work and start not feeling good, go home. Then make sure you call your supervisor and EB Medical—we’ll start taking a history, we’re going to find out when you started having symptoms and who you were near. If you’re at home when you start feeling ill, by all means don’t come to work, you need to seek medical care. Make sure you call your supervisor, call EB Medical and call your doctor. We want to make sure you’re getting the right care from your medical provider, and we also want to make sure EB knows who you’ve been around and if there’s any risk to anyone here.
It’s also important to recognize that if you’re not feeling well, we want to make sure you’re seeking your own medical care outside of Electric Boat. We don’t want to bring someone who’s infected in, so please seek medical attention outside of Electric Boat. I was watching the President’s press conference yesterday and what was pretty sobering was the realization that we’ve got a couple of very difficult weeks ahead across the nation with this disease. Doc Hurley, from your perspective, how long do you think we’re going to need to maintain the measures we have in place?
Right now the curve is fairly steep; we have yet to actually bend the curve or mitigate the number of transmitted cases. It’s going to be a while. We’re going to need to practice social isolation for the near future. The earliest there will be relaxation of these guidances will be sometime early to late summer. We don’t expect a vaccine to be available until March of 2021.
Doc Andrews, some people are thinking about wearing gloves at work. Can you tell us about your perspective on that?
The good news is that COVID virus does not get absorbed through the skin, so we go back to the basics of hand washing with soap and water or hand sanitizer and that you keep your hands away from your face. Since it doesn’t get absorbed through the skin, the gloves don’t really add anything. In fact, sometimes you forget you’re wearing gloves and you go ahead and touch your face—that doesn’t help you.
People are calling the Help Line with concerns such as “hey, my wife is a nurse and she’s been in contact with someone with COVID-19, what do I need to do?” Doc Hurley, can you tell us what you would advise?
It’s important to recognize that if the spouse or co-habitant has been exposed to a positive confirmed case, the advice for the loved one is to monitor their health and socially distance from any close personal contact. They need to practice strict social distancing for at least 14 days, monitor their own health and call their doctor if they start to exhibit symptoms.
There’s a lot of information out about this disease. In my own experience, it’s changing every day and can seem inconsistent to some people. Doc Andrews, can you talk about this?
Unfortunately, I don’t know if it’s so much inconsistent, or that it’s just changing. The more information we get as health professionals, it gets synthesized and the health recommendations change. Hopefully, as all the doctors and health systems get on the same page, the message will become more consistent. But as we learn things every day about this virus, we do have to keep changing our recommendations based on the CDC, the WHO (World Health Organization) and the CT and RI departments of health. As the advice changes, we keep updating what we’re saying. It may seem inconsistent, but it’s just moving with the disease itself.
Some of you may be asking why EB is staying open given this global pandemic. I want to be sure to reiterate the rationale. In our situation, being a submarine builder, the President of the United States has recognized, and the Navy has mandated, that we are performing a critical mission that is essential to the defense of our nation. We are, simply, not at liberty to shut down in the execution of that mission, it’s that important.
I want to share with you again my priorities. We are focused on ensuring the health and safety of our workforce to the maximum extent we possibly can while we work to continue to meet that mission as productively as we can.
I appreciate everybody who is paying attention, coming to work every day, working through a very difficult period of time, and for the flexibility and the adaptability of our folks as we work to come through this historic time in our nation’s history with COVID-19.
I want to thank the medical staff for making the time today for this podcast—we know you are both incredibly busy. To the rest of the EB team, please help our medical team to remain focused on their important work. If you have additional questions, please ask your supervisor. You can also call the hotline at 860-433-3470. Thank you also for staying focused on our important mission, as we move through this crisis together. We’ll talk again with you soon, thanks for listening.
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