Health Survey Ideas for Your COVID Questionnaire

If you’re reopening your facility after months of remote-only operation or intermittent visits, you might be wondering what processes you can put in place to keep your office and employees as safe as possible. In addition to sanitation protocols, masking, social distancing and other CDC recommendations or local requirements, you might want to consider having visitors and employees answer a series of health questions prior to coming on-site. COVID wellness questionnaires can help determine whether a visitor or employee is at a greater risk for transmitting COVID-19 and can help with contact tracing, too. In this article, we’ve compiled some ideas for wellness questions that we’ve seen various clients use in their offices.

Step One: Symptoms Check

Conducting a symptoms check was a question that many of our clients are asking in their surveys. As per the CDC, it is important to establish that the visitor or employee is not ill, or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, prior to coming on-site. Some companies are also asking about the immediate housemates that the visitor or employee lives with. 

1. Have you or any of your housemates experienced any of the following symptoms within the last 48 hours?:
   

• Sore throat
• Cough
• Chills
• Body aches
• Headache or excessive head pressure
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of smell or taste
• Nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting   

2. Have you or do you currently have a fever of over 100 degrees Farenheit in the last 48 hours?

Step Two: Testing & Exposure Checks

Another common question on health surveys we’ve seen was an exposure check. Symptoms are not the only indication that someone may have COVID-19. Asymptomatic individuals can still have the virus and spread the virus. For this reason, our clients often tracked potential exposure to the virus, even in those without symptoms. 

1. Have you or any of your housemates been in direct contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days?
2. Have you or any of your housemates come in contact with any asymptomatic positive, presumptive positive, or symptomatic non-tested individuals in the last 14 days?
3. Have you or any of your housemates shared unmasked contact with others outside your home in the last 14 days?

Step Three: Travel Checks

Travel presents another opportunity for visitors or employees to contract COVID-19, even unknowingly. We saw many companies address this by asking the following questions:

1. Have you or any of your housemates traveled between U.S. states in the past 14 days?
2. Have you or any of your housemates traveled outside the U.S. in the past 14 days?

Travel between states or outside of the US did not automatically bar individuals from entering most facilities, but should be considered in conjunction with other answers to determine safe entry. 

Step Four: Company Policies

Some companies choose to ask to recommit to their office re-entry policies. These typically pertained to social distancing, wearing personal protective equipment and adhering to capacity limits. 

1. Have you read the workplace safety policy guide? 
2. Do you agree to follow the steps outlined in said guide? 

Determining thresholds for approval 

Wellness questions can help teams evaluate potential healthy and safety risks for an office. After you determine the right questions for your office, you'll need to think about the thresholds you want to use to approve (or deny) entry. We recommend that you consult the CDC guidelines and stay up-to-date with local government recommendations. Using Eden’s COVID Team Safety Tool, you can set which responses are or are not acceptable for entry, and each person can complete their survey through Slack, email or their Eden dashboard. 

For more information and resources to help you manage your facility during a global pandemic and in general, click here.

DISCLAIMER - LEGAL STATEMENT

We are providing this document for general educational purposes only.  It does not constitute, and should not be construed as, legal, medical, or other professional advice.

The information contained in this document may not be applicable to all businesses or places of work. Before implementing any of the measures described in this document, you must carefully evaluate them, and consult with appropriate medical, legal, and safety professionals, as all appropriate to ensure the legality, applicability and potential efficacy of this information in and to your place of business.