Novel coronavirus returning traveler recommendations outlined

Message from Tom Talbot, MD, MPH, Chief Hospital Epidemiologist for VUMC, and Lori Rolando, MD, MPH director of the Occupational Health Clinic.:

Please note that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Tennessee Department of Health have broadened the recommendations for people who are returning from travel to China to align with the recently announced presidential proclamation. 

Current recommendations instruct individuals who are returning from China (other than from Hubei Province) and currently have no fever or respiratory symptoms such as cough or trouble breathing to practice “social distancing." This means that you should stay out of public places where close contact with others can occur, including workplaces, for 14 days after you leave China. Therefore, in light of this new guidance, VUMC Department of Infection Prevention and the Occupational Health Clinic also recommend that VUMC faculty, staff, and students returning from China stay home from work for 14 days after their return. Those returning from Hubei Province are being quarantined for the full 14 day follow-up period prior to completing their travel and will have concluded that follow-up before returning to work.

During this period of social distancing, you should monitor your health for the development of fever or other symptoms and notify the Occupational Health Clinic if symptoms develop. VUMC employees can use the self-monitoring REDCap found at https://www.vumc.org/health-wellness/news-resource-articles/2019-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-monitoring-employees to assist with this monitoring. 

Full details of this new CDC guidance can be found on the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/faqs.html.