The highly contagious Omicron variant is spreading with unprecedented speed in California.

To help protect healthcare workers and our patients during the Winter surge / Omicron phase, use the checklist below both with facility management and coworkers to ensure your hospital is operating in the most safe and secure manner possible.

Download the PDF: Checklist for Kaiser employees | Checklist for Hospital employees (pdf)

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Drive expanded booster shots among workforce to maximize protection against Delta and Omicron variants

• Promote the need for and effectiveness of vaccine boosters (via frequent leadership messages, forums with respected doctors, department-level informational meetings, incentives).
• Offer employees the booster on paid time at work for all shifts and locations.
• Offer employees leave for adverse reactions to the vaccine.
• [KAISER] Continue offering employees booster on paid time at work for all shifts and locations.
• [KAISER] Continue offering employees leave for adverse reactions to the vaccine.

Testing

Expand rapid testing in response to increasingly transmissive variants

• Expand employee access to testing.
• Provide workers with at-home testing kits to check on symptoms and potential exposures.

Safety Precautions

Maintain and increase safety measures that have proven effective

• Assess and tighten current visitation rules in response to the surge.
• Tighten physical distancing protocols that have become lax.
• Issue N95 masks to all employees daily due to Omicron’s high transmissibility.
• Assess the current N95 mask policy and determine how it can be expanded.

Planning

Define and disseminate new surge plan

• Develop and communicate response plans for a sudden surge (e.g., cancellation of elective procedures, installation of COVID tents, conversion of units).

Exposure

Clearly define COVID exposure policies in light of increasingly transmissive variants

• Employer explicitly communicates current policy for handling exposures.
• Immediately notify employees of workplace exposures.
• Pay employees for mandatory quarantines.

Staffing

When making staffing decisions, recognize and address the reality that our healthcare workforce is smaller and more fatigued than ever before

• Develop a plan to accelerate hiring for positions that are or will be needed.
• Ensure staff take desperately needed time off to rest and recuperate.
• Plan for additional shifts, incentives, and triggers in advance.
• No mandatory overtime that will push more staff out of the workforce.

Emotional Wellness and Recognition

Recognize and respond to the increasing emotional and mental strain on workers — including documented increases in stress, anxiety, exhaustion, depression, and suicide

• Enhance and promote EAP and other mental health resources.
• Make grief counseling readily available to all employees.
• Train managers to check in on the well-being of employees, especially those working significant overtime.