Congregation Preparedness Tips:

• Promote the practice of everyday preventive actions to your congregation and staff - washing hands for 20 seconds or more, covering your cough/sneeze, and staying home if you are sick. 
• Have supplies on hand for staff, volunteers, and those you serve, such as soap, hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, tissues, trash baskets, and disposable facemasks. 
• Those who become sick should be immediately isolated from those who are not sick and given a clean disposable facemask to wear until they can leave.
• Plan for staff absences. Develop flexible attendance and sick-leave policies. Staff (and volunteers) may need to stay home when they are sick, caring for a sick household member, or caring for their children in the event of school dismissals. 
• Identify critical job functions and positions, and plan for alternative coverage by cross-training staff members.
• Determine what level of absenteeism will disrupt day-to-day operations. If staff absenteeism increases to disruptive levels, some organizations may need to consider temporarily reducing on-site operations and services.
• Identify space that can be used to separate sick people (if possible). Designate a space for people who may become sick while at work and cannot leave immediately. If possible, designate a nearby separate bathroom just for sick people. Develop a plan for cleaning the room daily.
• Plan ways to limit face-to-face contact between people at your organization. Several ways to do this include offering workers the option to telework, replacing in-person meetings in the workplace with video or telephone conferences, and postponing non-essential meetings and travel.
• Review your process for planning events, programs, and services. Identify actions to take if you need to temporarily postpone or cancel events, programs, and services. Consider limiting access to your organization by non-essential visitors.
• Plan ways to continue essential services if on-site operations are scaled back temporarily. Provide web- and mobile-based communications and services, if possible. Increase the use of email, conference calls, video conferencing, and web-based seminars.

  
  

• Learn more about  Community Organization for more guidance from the CDC on community- and faith-based leaders.