So my governor came out today and said she's shifting the order around some..more so they are putting now those 65+ ahead of congregate settings. Both were and are still in Phase 2. This is the most defined order I've seen yet for my state and I so so so appreciate it being laid out this way because now I know that technically I'd be in Phase 4, my husband in Phase 5, depending on my sister-in-law's asthma she may be in Phase 4 with me (although her's is quite mild).
There are 5 phases and a,b,c, etc parts to it:
Phase 1:
• Health care workers
• Residents or patients in long-term care facilities and senior housing
• Workers critical to pandemic response continuity
*Phase 1 groups have already begun to receive vaccines
Phase 2:
• Persons aged 65 and older
• High-contact critical workers necessary to maintain systems, assets, and activities that are vital to the state security, the economy or public health, or who interact with large numbers of contacts and job-related COVID-19 exposure. COVID-19 risk is associated with the likelihood of infecting oneself or spreading the virus. Factors that increase risk include proximity, type of contact, duration of contacts and challenges to implement protective measures. This includes:
o Firefighters, police officers, first responders, and correction officers {Looks like this was a slight adjustment too to do it before inmates as a whole for correction officers, before it was described they would be more together}
o Grocery store workers and food services
o K-12 and childcare workers, including teachers, custodians, drivers, and other staff
o Food processing, including meat processing plants
o Large-scale aviation manufacturing plants
o Transportation workers
o Workers in retail, agriculture, supply of critical services or materials for COVID-19 response, the U.S. Postal Service, and Department of motor vehicles
• Those living or working in licensed congregate settings and other special care or congregate environments where social distancing is not possible, including:
o Homeless shelters
o Congregate childcare institutions
o Emergency shelters or safe houses
o Corrections facilities
o Behavioral health institutions
Phase 3:
• Those aged 16-64 with serious medical conditions that increase the risk for severe illness from COVID-19, including:
o Cancer
o Chronic kidney disease
o Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
o Down Syndrome
o Heart conditions like cardiomyopathies
o Immunocompromised state from solid organ transplant
o Type 2 diabetes
o Sickle cell disease
o Pregnant patients
• Other non-health care workers in critical infrastructure who cannot work remotely, including:
o Agricultural and food workers not included in previous phases
o Workers performing in-person activities indoors, in critical manufacturing, not included in previous phases. This includes aviation and production of critical supplies for the COVID response
o Utility workers
o Social service and government workers not included in previous phases
o Logistics workers, such as truck transportation workers, couriers and others
o Water and wastewater workers
o Shelter and housing workers, finance workers
o Information technology and communications workers
Phase 4:
• Those aged 16-64 with other medical conditions that increase the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 such as:
o Asthma
o Cerebrovascular disease
o Cystic Fibrosis
o Immunocompromised state from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, or use of immune weakening medicines
o Neurologic conditions such as dementia
o Liver disease
o Pulmonary fibrosis
o Type 1 diabetes
o Obesity and severe obesity
Phase 5:
• The rest of the population 16 and older
• Potentially children, dependent upon further research on the effectiveness and risks associated with vaccinating kids
**A few of these occupations were touched on in my county's podcast the other day in terms of saying where they would be like teachers, grocery store workers, postal workers, etc.
