What does CORRAL look like for our staff, girls, families, and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic? CORRAL is still committed to our core value of Safety, so we are committed to ensuring the safety of everyone present at our campuses. We wanted to make sure that we all are informed and have the capacity to protect our staff, girls, volunteers, and families from the continued threat of COVID-19. Please note, the former safety guidelines for Phase 2 at CORRAL are still relevant, this is an addition and update to those guidelines as more girls, staff, and volunteers are present on the farm with the start of the new programming year.
Safety Requirements
As individuals who make up a community at CORRAL, we all share a responsibility to keep this community safe, which means being conscientious of how our decisions can affect the other people in our community, be they staff, girls, volunteers, or parents/families. Programming looks different this year, but we are still serving all of our girls in person. As there are now more people on the farm regularly, there is an increased risk for a COVID-19 outbreak in our CORRAL community, so we are requesting that all CORRAL staff and volunteers continue to follow the Phase 2 guidelines outlined by the previous memo and those stated by Governor Cooper.
The CORRAL Community Pledge is as Follows:
- I will check my temperature either before leaving my home or when arriving at CORRAL and complete the COVID-19 checklist upon arriving at CORRAL.
- I will maintain a distance of 6 feet with everyone else around me.
- I will wear my mask when interacting with others.
- I will wipe down my space when I’m done.
We expect everyone who is on CORRAL property to abide by this pledge in order to maintain a safe environment for our community.
Update to Travelling/Attending Large Events for Staff Volunteers:
If CORRAL staff are in a situation where they cannot effectively social distance themselves from people outside their household (i.e. more than 25 people indoors or 50 people outdoors), or if they plan to travel using public transportation (plane, train, or bus), CORRAL will be enforcing a mandatory quarantine period. All staff who return from a trip where they used public transport or from attending a large gathering where social distancing was not enforced, will be required to quarantine while working from home for 4 days before taking a COVID-19 test wherever the fastest results are available in the county. CORRAL will help staff financially to obtain the fastest COVID-19 test if necessary. The 4 day period is derived from the evidence that symptoms begin showing after three days.
After taking the test, the staff member is required to continue quarantining until they receive their test results. Once the results of the test come back, the staff member is required to inform the Leadership Team (Joy, Neyra, and Lauren) if the results are positive or negative. If the results are negative, the employee may return to the farm to work in person. If the results are positive, the staff member will continue to quarantine for at least another 10 days after receiving the positive results.
If an employee plans to travel via plane, train, or bus or attend a large gathering, they are required to discuss this with their manager. Manager and employee will create a plan together based on the employee’s work requirements. Please note, the mandatory quarantine for the time period both before and after the COVID-19 test is taken is not considered sick time and the staff member will be responsible for their work duties while working from home. They will also be responsible for coordinating with other CORRAL staff to ensure that their in-person responsibilities are taken care of while they are out of the office.
The above requirements also apply for any staff member who plans to have people to visit who are traveling via public transport (plane, train, or bus). In terms of COVID-19 exposure, this is essentially the same as the employee travelling on public transport. If a staff member is planning to have people visit, they will need to also communicate this with their manager in order to plan for the required quarantine period.
Update to Traveling/Attending Large Events for Volunteers:
If CORRAL volunteers are in a situation where they cannot effectively social distance themselves from people outside their household (i.e. more than 25 people indoors or 50 people outdoors), or if they plan to travel via public transport, CORRAL will be enforcing a mandatory quarantine period. If a volunteer returns from a trip where they used public transport or from attending a large gathering where social distancing is not enforced, they will not be able to return to the farm until after a 14 day quarantine period. The volunteer may choose to take a COVID-19 test after 4 days of quarantine and continue to quarantine until receiving the test results. The volunteer should then inform their manager of the test results. If the result is negative, the volunteer may return to CORRAL. If the result is negative, they will need to continue quarantining for an additional 10 days.
If a volunteer plans to travel via public transport or attend a large gathering, they will be required to communicate this with their manager, so CORRAL may be aware of the potential risk of COVID-19. The manager will then prepare the rest of their volunteer team as needed to ensure that all responsibilities are taken care of.
The above requirements also apply for any volunteer who plans to have people from out of state come to North Carolina to visit. In terms of COVID-19 exposure, this is essentially the same as travelling out of state. If a volunteer is having people visiting from out of state, they will need to also communicate this with their manager in order to plan for the required quarantine period.
Conclusion
We are still committed to ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of our staff and girls. CORRAL is a community made of individuals that care for one another, and mitigating risk in your personal life helps the community maintain a safe physical environment for us all.
It’s times like these that we need to rely on each other for support. Let’s all work together towards ensuring that CORRAL maintains the best quality of service to our girls and families, while keeping all of our staff and volunteers safe.
