Over the past few weeks, as the crisis around COVID-19 has escalated, the federal government has taken steps to empower medical providers to continue caring for patients, wherever they might be, in response to social distancing and self-quarantine directives. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the agencies tasked with administration and enforcement of HIPAA regulations, have issued several bulletins which provide guidance to Covered Entities and Business Associates around maintaining patient privacy when using telemedicine practices to treat patients during the COVID-19 public health crisis.

During the pending COVID-19 crisis, many employers are considering layoffs to make sure they can keep their companies afloat. However, because the duration of the crisis is unknown and may be temporary, employers may wish to consider other cost-saving measures that are designed to be temporary and reversible in the event that the economy bounces back sooner rather than later. This article will address some of the cost-cutting strategies that Massachusetts employers can use in lieu of layoffs which will ensure that employers have an available workforce to call upon once business rebounds, and also save jobs.  

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which will go into effect on April 1, 2020, provides Coronavirus-related emergency paid sick leave and emergency family and medical care leave to eligible employees.  Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a “Questions and Answers” to address some preliminary questions related to the new FFCRA.  Earlier today, the DOL published a workplace poster which covered employers must distribute to current employees.  The posting requirement may be met by emailing or direct mailing this notice to employees, posting the notice on an internal or external website, or by physically posting the notice in a conspicuous place on the premises. 

In this new reality, which I (not so fondly) refer to as “quarantine-ville,” most workers have been mandated to work from home. For the lawyers of Outside GC and Patent GC, working from home is a core element of our business model; but for most, this arrangement is brand new territory. Since we’ve been doing this with great success for the past 18 years, we’d like to share some tips to help improve your productivity, and perhaps more importantly, help keep you sane.

Public health officers in seven counties of the San Francisco Bay Area issued orders on March 16, 2020 directing residents to shelter in place for three weeks and avoid all non-essential travel and business activities to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus as much as possible. The orders take effect at midnight on March 17, 2020 and are scheduled to last through April 7, 2020 unless otherwise modified.

Since the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency in January, there have been more than 105,000 confirmed cases in more than 100 countries, with the majority in China, which has reported nearly 81,000 confirmed cases. In the U.S., as of March 9, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed more than 150 cases and eleven deaths across more than a dozen states.  

In an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, the Trump administration has issued a presidential proclamation imposing travel restrictions upon individuals who have recently visited mainland China. Effective February 2, 2020, any non-U.S. citizen who was physically present in mainland China (all areas governed by the People’s Republic of China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau) within 14 days prior to seeking entry to the U.S. will be barred from entry to the U.S., unless exempt as described below. This entry bar will last until terminated by President Trump.