{"id":2590,"date":"2025-09-29T13:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/clinicians\/?page_id=2590"},"modified":"2026-01-21T11:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:47:58","slug":"interim-recs_hcp_covid-19_flu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/clinicians\/clinician-letters\/interim-recs_hcp_covid-19_flu\/","title":{"rendered":"Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2681 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-1024x381.png\" alt=\"VDH Letterhead: Karen Shelton, MD State Health Commissioner Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health PO Box 2448 Richmond, VA 23218 800-828-1120 or TTY 7-1-1\" width=\"726\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-1024x381.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-768x286.png 768w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-1536x572.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/134\/Letterhead_Shelton-2048x763.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected<br \/>\nwith COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">September 30, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Dear Colleague,<\/p>\n<p>The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is providing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/HCP-Return-to-Work-and-Management-Recommendations-for-COVID-19-and-Influenza.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">updated recommendations<\/a> for the\u00a0management of healthcare personnel (HCP) exposed to or infected with COVID-19 or seasonal influenza.<\/p>\n<p>VDH worked with stakeholders to create Virginia&#8217;s recommendations based on the work proposed by the former Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel Workgroup of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Healthcare facilities should evaluate VDH recommendations and consider updating HCP return to work and management guidance. The summary of recommendations includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>HCP who are infected<\/strong> with COVID-19 or seasonal influenza can return to work when at least 3 days have passed since symptom onset (or first positive test if asymptomatic), and they are 24 hours fever free without the use of fever-reducing medication and other symptoms improving.\n<ul>\n<li>This is a change from prior guidance as it allows these persons to return to work sooner than previous CDC COVID-19 guidance and recommendations and brings seasonal influenza guidance into alignment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>After return-to-work, <strong>HCP should wear a facemask<\/strong> for source control in all patient care and common areas of the facility for at least 7 days after symptom onset (or first positive test if asymptomatic).\n<ul>\n<li>This is not a change from prior CDC COVID-19 guidance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing is not required<\/strong> for return-to-work.\n<ul>\n<li>This is a change from prior COVID-19 guidance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>HCP who are exposed<\/strong> to COVID-19 or seasonal influenza and are asymptomatic should wear a facemask for source control for at least 5 days after last exposure and monitor for symptoms.\n<ul>\n<li>This change from previous guidance allows these persons to shorten the duration of source control compared to previous CDC COVID-19 guidance and recommendations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These recommendations are intended to supersede <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/covid\/hcp\/infection-control\/guidance-risk-assesment-hcp.html\">CDC\u2019s Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2<\/a> and the section on the management of ill HCP contained within the CDC guidance document, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu\/hcp\/infection-control\/healthcare-settings.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu\/professionals\/infectioncontrol\/healthcaresettings.htm\">Infection Prevention and Control Strategies for Seasonal Influenza in Healthcare Settings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>HCP should be encouraged to stay up to date on influenza and COVID-19 immunizations and follow healthcare facility policies for source control masking. Facilities can monitor trends for respiratory illnesses by reviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/respiratory-diseases-in-virginia\/data\/emergency-visits-for-respiratory-illness\/\">local emergency visit data<\/a> to inform broad source control recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>If you have questions about the recommendations, please contact the VDH Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance team at <a href=\"mailto:hai@vdh.virginia.gov\">hai@vdh.virginia.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>Karen Shelton, MD<br \/>\nState Health Commissioner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza September 30, 2025 Dear Colleague, The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is providing updated recommendations for the\u00a0management of healthcare personnel (HCP) exposed to or infected with COVID-19 or seasonal influenza. VDH worked with stakeholders to create Virginia&#8217;s recommendations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":510,"featured_media":0,"parent":25,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2590","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza - Clinicians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/clinicians\/clinician-letters\/interim-recs_hcp_covid-19_flu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza - Clinicians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interim Recommendations for the Management of Healthcare Personnel Exposed to or Infected with COVID-19 or Seasonal Influenza September 30, 2025 Dear Colleague, The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is providing updated recommendations for the\u00a0management of healthcare personnel (HCP) exposed to or infected with COVID-19 or seasonal influenza. 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