Key Messages:
- Farm employees are no longer exempt from quarantine orders.
- The “essential” employee designation for farm employees ended when the state terminated the COVID-19 executive orders.
- Generally, vaccinated people can continue working after an exposure to COVID-19, the unvaccinated must quarantine.
Farm employees remain essential to farms and to the food supply but the term “essential worker” as used during COVID-19 pandemic has now expired. As of June 25, 2021, most of the COVID executive orders were rescinded, including all exemptions for essential workers. This is important for farm employers because under the executive orders, “essential workers” could continue to work even when under quarantine restrictions due to a COVID exposure.
Recently, an unvaccinated farm employee was exposed to COVID-19 at home when two of his family members tested positive. The employee does not have symptoms (asymptomatic) and has monitored his temperature for fever each day before going to work. The employee has been wearing a mask and social distancing when around other employees for the last 5 days since his exposure to the positive cases. The employee was contacted by the local department of health and asked to quarantine.
The farm employer asked through Northeast Dairy Producers Association (NEDPA) whether “essential” farm employees were still exempt from quarantine orders. A response came from the NYS Department of Health through the Department of Ag and Markets, as follows:
“The employee, who is a contact to a case, should have received an order to quarantine from their local health department and should be in quarantine. There is no longer an exemption for essential workers. The term and definition for an essential worker was part of an executive order. When the executive orders expired, so did the definition of an essential worker. The contact should follow the orders provided by the Local Health Department.”
Vaccination status is important in this situation. According to CDC, fully vaccinated employees who have no symptoms of COVID-19 do not need to quarantine. They can continue to work while wearing a mask and getting tested as outlined in the CDC resources below.
CDC Resources (updated on October 4th)
For Anyone Who Has Been Around a Person with COVID-19
Anyone who has had close contact with someone with COVID-19 should quarantine for 14 days after their last exposure to that person, except if they meet the following conditions:
Someone who has been fully vaccinated and shows no symptoms of COVID-19 does not need to quarantine. However, fully vaccinated close contacts should:
- Wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until a negative test result.
- Get tested 3-5 days after close contact with someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
- Get tested and isolate immediately if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
What are the public health recommendations for close contacts who have ongoing exposure to COVID-19?
Close contacts with ongoing exposure who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated
People who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated and have ongoing exposure to COVID-19 should
- Get tested immediately when they are identified as a close contact.
- Begin quarantine immediately and continue to quarantine throughout the isolation period of the person with COVID-19.
- Continue to quarantine for an additional 14 days starting the day after the end of isolation for the person with COVID-19.
- Get tested again 5-7 days after the end of isolation of the infected household member.
- Wear a mask when in contact with the person with COVID-19 throughout the person’s isolation period.
- Wear a mask when in contact with other people in the home until quarantine ends.
- Isolate immediately if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive.
Close contacts with ongoing exposure who are fully vaccinated
People who are fully vaccinated and have ongoing exposure to COVID-19 should
- Get tested 3-5 days after their first exposure. A person with COVID-19 is considered infectious starting 2 days before they develop symptoms, or 2 days before the date of their positive test if they do not have symptoms.
- Get tested again 3-5 days after the end of isolation for the person with COVID-19.
- Wear a mask when in contact with the person with COVID-19 throughout the infected person’s isolation period.
- Wear a mask indoors in public until 14 days after the infected person’s isolation period ends or until the fully vaccinated close contact receives their final test result.
- Isolate immediately if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive.
By Alyssa Kealy, NEDPA and Richard Stup, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution. The post “Essential Employee” Definition Expired: Quarantine Orders Apply to Unvaccinated Farm Employees appeared first in The Ag Workforce Journal.
