Home » News & Events » Please read before visiting JCA
COVID-19, a coronavirus disease, is continuing to spread. Fear about it is spreading even faster. Please let’s work together to fight it and to keep one another safe. Program participants should not attend JCA programs…and staff, volunteers and interns should not come to work if They have an elevated temperature or feel ill; They have traveled to areas where COVID-19 is rampant — currently Seattle, Washington as well as China, Italy, Iran and South Korea, although other locations may soon be added to the list; or They have had contact with someone who has COVID-19 or believe that they might have had contact with someone who has the disease. Your doctor is the best source of advice for testing, treatment and quarantine. When you are in the office or attending a JCA program, Wash your hands often and for a full 20 seconds each time according to CDC guidelines. Use hand sanitizer when hand washing isn’t possible. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Put your used tissue in a wastebasket. Refrain from serving cookies and snacks, shaking hands, giving hugs, sharing your pen or paper or otherwise engaging in personal contact. (These days, there is a completely new code of friendship and courteous behavior!) Tell a staff manager if you believe that JCA needs to sanitize an area. Don’t take offense if a JCA representative asks you to take your temperature or to answer questions about your well-being. Please comply. If JCA has a reasonable belief that you have COVID-19 or were exposed to it, JCA can require you to leave the office or program.
If you are concerned about attending a group meeting on behalf of JCA, please speak up! We do not want you to put yourself at risk or even to feel that you are doing so. Arm yourself with information. Watch the CBC News video at https://www.swhealth.org/dr-peter-lin-breaks-down-information- on-coronavirus-covid-19/. Keep abreast of advice from the CDC and local public health authorities. This is especially important because they are constantly learning new things about the virus, its spread and control. In keeping with advice from public health authorities, JCA might need to cancel or postpone certain programs or meetings. In addition, we might need to curtail operations if key staff and volunteers are ill or in quarantine. Of course, we will provide as much notice as possible. Generally, our administrative offices follow the open/close decisions of the federal government (see https://www.opm.gov), while our programs follow the decisions of Montgomery County Public Schools (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org). Issued March 9, 2020