• Clean your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick by staying home as much as possible and maintaining 6’ distance between yourself and other people.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover and time you must leave home.
• Always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow.
• Clean AND disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily, including tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, remote controls, toilets, faucets, and sinks.

You’ll find a wealth of resources and material at kp.org/mentalhealth ^[1], and terrific self-care articles, recordings, and exercises at kp.org/selfcare ^[2]. These are a few highlights:

• Find Your Words ^[3]: Mental health education and tools to help with depression and build resilience.
• myStrength ^[4]: KPSC members have free access to this personalized app with interactive activities, in-the-moment coping tools, inspirational resources, and community support. There are pathways for anxiety, sleep, stress and depression among others.
• Stress Management ^[5] articles, podcasts, and guided exercises.
• Parenting ^[6] tips and exercises to help parents stay calm, centered, and collected amidst the (joyful!) chaos of COVID-19 (or any time).
• Healthcare providers ^[7] will find short, practical COVID-19-related self-care advice from the American Psychological Association.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers free, voluntary, and confidential services for all Kaiser Permanente physicians and employees. EAP Consultants are licensed, trained clinicians, experienced in working with a wide variety of work-related and personal issues.

• COVID-19 Drop-in Support Group Calls: Now offered several times each week, for employees and managers. Covering coping strategies to deal with uncertainty, stress, and burnout; strengthening social support networks during social distancing; using mindfulness, kindness, and gratitude. Participants can remain anonymous. Click here for support group information for employees ^[8], managers ^[9], and physicians ^[10]. (login required).
• Get more information on the main EAP site ^[11], or on the EAP FAQ page ^[12] (login required).

• World Health Organization (WHO) Global COVID-19 Cases Dashboard ^[13]
• World Health Organization (WHO) Dashboard U.S.A. Cases Dashboard ^[14]
• California Department of Public Health: COVID-19 in California ^[15]

Social media and other poorly vetted sources can transmit misinformation. To get your coronavirus facts straight, consult the WHO’s COVID-19 Myth Busters page ^[16] and the Rumor Control ^[17] web page from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Don’t believe rumors. Don’t pass on questionable information. Always go to trusted sources of information for COVID-19 facts. Bookmark this site (www.kpscalfyi.org ^[18]) and visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ^[19]; World Health Organization ^[20] (WHO); or Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center ^[21].

The California Department of Education has lots of resources for parents or caregivers who are supporting students with distance learning. Browse for general how-to guidance; information by school subject ^[22]; resources for students with disabilities ^[23]; multilingual resources ^[24]; pre-K learning and activities ^[25]; and much more.

Understood.org ^[26] offers a broad range of life and learning practical strategies for parents and caregivers, during COVID-19 and any time. Sample stories include getting kids in the hand-washing habit ^[27]; coping with two cooped-up teens ^[28]; and picture schedules ^[29] for adjusting to new routines.

Several companies are offering discounted services during the COVID-19 for those who do not have internet access at home (especially those with school-aged children at home). Contact the companies listed here to discuss the plans available to you. ^[30]

• Kaiser Permanente pediatrician David Bronstein, MD, shares advice for helping children cope ^[31] during the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Johns Hopkins Medicine’s excellent piece ^[32] on talking to your child about the pandemic and why they have to stay home.

All DMV field offices are temporarily closed to the public, and appointments have been canceled. You can access many DMV services online ^[33], including driver’s license renewals and replacements vehicle registrations, and more. For transfers, visit virtual.dmv.ca.gov ^[33]. Extensions are available for some (not all) expired licenses. Check the site.

Since the start of our planning to respond to the coronavirus outbreak our Buy-to-Pay team has undertaken a gigantic task of sourcing very scare materials to meet the demands of a totally unheard-of disease that we have no immunity against. In addition to our normal supply chain sources, they have undertaken steps to find and establish new relationships with clinically-approved new sources of supplies; and chartered aircraft to go to Europe and Asia to restock our materials. We also have engaged in some ingenious tactics to PPE supplies from unconventional sources. This includes donations from various private sources, and even P-card shopping at hardware stores to find goggles and face masks. We were very pleased to learn that Southern California Region will receive 770 new ventilators within the next few weeks as part of a massive enterprise-wide purchase of this equipment.

Recently, UHW donated 700 masks to KP and we know our SEIU UHW partner is actively working with other businesses they are part of to encourage and help them immediately switch from whatever they normally manufacture to producing the critical PPE we all need. We applaud and are so grateful for what this means for our nation and health care teams on the frontlines here at KP and across the nation.

Just like for any highly infectious exposure that occurs in the workplace, any and all individuals on the care team that might have been exposed will be notified. Depending on the level of exposure – the appropriate actions will be taken – which could range from self-monitoring for symptoms to being sent home for a period of time and put on paid administrative.

We are taking precautions to protect our people and patients. For example, we’ve implemented a Secured Entry/Greeter programs which limits access to our medical facilities and direct people who may have COVID-19 symptoms to an isolated area for follow-up. Temperature taking of visitors, staff, and physicians entering our facilities helps to identify those with coronavirus symptoms.

COVID-19 testing is only available by a doctor’s order. If a health care worker or first responder is showing COVID-19 symptoms, they will be tested following consultation and approval by their physician.

If you are concerned that you or a family member are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, please call the appointment and advice line for further instructions before coming in, as you need an appointment to get tested. Members who have flu-like symptoms and are 18 or older can also complete an e-visit to get online care, advice, coronavirus screening, and treatment for symptoms if necessary.

Employees who experience symptoms at home should first call the advice number on the back of their Kaiser Permanente membership card for instructions, and then notify their manager in accordance with existing sick policies and procedures. If an employee becomes ill with these symptoms while at work, the employee should separate themselves from other coworkers or patients, and report it to their manager immediately.

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus that can spread between people in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet). It is most commonly spread through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. Coronavirus may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.

^[34]

This week, Kaiser Permanente began transferring non-COVID-19 patients to the USNS Mercy, the fully staffed and equipped hospital ship now docked in the Port of Los Angeles. Patients are being relocated to the Mercy only in if they voluntarily agree to do so and meet the hospital ship’s clinical criteria, and only after consultation with their physician.

As the number of COVID-19-positive patients grows, this collaboration allows us to use our intensive care units and ventilators for those patients, while ensuring all other non-COVID patients continue to receive high-quality, compassionate care. This is just one of many options we are implementing to prepare for the expected surge of COVID-19 patients, and to further strengthen our ability to deliver outstanding medical care. For details, check your Kaiser Permanente email inbox for the 4/5/20 message and video from Ed Ellison, MD and Julie Miller-Phipps.