On Wednesday December 16^th, the Michigan Senate passed legislation supported by the MCC that would fix a problem with statutory COVID quarantine and isolation requirements. Together with the ACC and many member companies, the MCC has been working to update a new state law enacted in October that specified return-to-work requirements for individuals who test positive for COVID-19 and those with COVID close contacts. Due to recent prevalence of COVID-19 in the general population, many companies report operational challenges because of employees quarantine due to potential exposure outside of work.

As written, the Michigan law requires a full 14-day quarantine period for COVID close contacts, with no testing provision and few exceptions for critical workers. Please note that the Michigan law conflicts with CDC guidance that allows critical workers with potential COVID exposure to continue to work as long as they remain asymptomatic, as well as recent CDC guidance that reduced quarantines for COVID close contacts from the full 14 days to either a 7 day period along with a negative test, or a 10 day period.

We Need Your Help!

As you know, one of the challenges for our industry is to explain what we do and how our chemical products are relevant to peoples’ lives. That is why we are putting together a Michigan chemistry product gift bag to help with outreach and education of key decision-makers in Lansing.

Over the past two weeks, the MCC (together with the ACC) has been working steadfastly to resolve an emerging issue regarding Michigan’s quarantine requirements for employees who have had close COVID contacts. Due to recent prevalence of COVID-19 in the general population, many companies report operational challenges because of employees quarantine due to potential exposure outside of work.

Exacerbating this situation is a new state law - effective in recent weeks - that codified an executive order specifying return-to-work requirements. The law now requires a full 14-day quarantine period for COVID close contacts, with no testing provision and few exceptions for critical workers. Please note that the Michigan law conflicts with CDC guidance that allows critical workers with potential COVID exposure to continue to work as long as they remain asymptomatic.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has updated guidance on COVID-19 quarantine periods based on scientific findings released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

The CDC presented findings describing options to reduce the required number of quarantine days for individuals with known exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case. The existing 14-day recommendation was based on earlier data that estimated the COVID-19 incubation period. At the national level, estimates of the COVID-19 incubation period have been refined based on a review of case data for hundreds of thousands of cases.