COVID Risk Levels

“I keep hearing about low risk, high risk, etc. related to COVID-19 but I don’t know what they mean.”

Your HR Survival Tip

Many of the things we’ve heard relating to COVID-19 have been confusing. This is because the laws and regulations keep changing as the infection rates increase or more is learned about COVID. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has provided the following to help us:

• Lower Exposure Risk — Given to jobs that do not require close contact with other people. This level is typical of remote workers (i.e., those working from home during the pandemic); office workers who do not have frequent close contact with coworkers, customers, or the public; and healthcare workers providing only telemedicine services.


• Medium Exposure Risk — Given to jobs that require either frequent close contact or sustained close contact with other people in areas where COVID is transmitted from community to community. Typical of this level are workers who have frequent or sustained contact with coworkers or the public, including under close working conditions outdoors or in well ventilated indoor workplaces; and those living in shared housing facilities.


• High Exposure Risk — Given to jobs with a potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2 or exposed to people with known or suspected COVID-19. This includes healthcare delivery and support staff, medical transport workers, mortuary workers, and those workers who have frequent or sustained contact with coworkers or the public under close working conditions indoors or in poorly ventilated spaces or workplaces.


• Very High Exposure Risk — Given to jobs with a very high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of SARS-CoV-2 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. This level is typical of healthcare workers performing aerosol-generating procedures or collecting or handling specimens, and morgue workers performing autopsies.

As a reminder, “close contact” is defined as being within 6 feet of a positive person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. An employee can easily infect others before they even know they are positive. While it’s impossible to completely eliminate risk even with the best prevention practices, you can definitely help protect your employees by simply ensuring everyone is wearing a mask whenever they are within 6 feet of someone else… without exception. Even though we’ve been dealing with COVID for too long, you can’t afford to stop enforcing your protocols.