HJAR Jul/Aug 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JUL / AUG 2020 23 the country’s two largest retail pharmacy chains, told ProPublica that floaters are not given information about whether any em- ployee has gotten sick with the coronavirus at a store when they show up to work there. One floater told ProPublica that he has worked in as many as 20 stores in the past month with- out being told about any infections before he showed up at a location. Several floaters said that managers at both companies refused to fill them in about potential exposure, citing privacy laws. Those privacy laws do not ap- ply, experts told ProPublica. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines advise employers to inform employees about possible exposure to the coronavirus in the workplace. A floater in Ohio, who works at about a dozen Walgreens a month, said he warns his colleagues that he may endanger them. “I always tell people, ‘Definitely stay away fromme, don’t get close tome, because as the floater, I’ll probably be the one who is going to bring the virus to you,’” he said. The use of floaters “is just going to turn pharmacies into hot spots,” said John Fram, a senior pharmacy tech at a Walgreens in NewYork City. “Techs and pharmacists who worked with positive employees or work within a hospital are still moving around working at lots of other stores in the city.” Fram said that a tech who took a shift at his store had previously worked at aWalgreens in Chelsea where ProPublica reported an outbreak of the virus among at least three employees in April. Walgreens said that, to help reduce the risk of exposure, it is taking steps to limit the number of stores where floaters are working and “to fill open shifts with the same individ- uals as much as possible.”When notified of a confirmed or presumed case of COVID-19, it said, its responses include “identifying and contacting individuals who may be at risk in order to self-quarantine or self-monitor their health, as well as cleaning and disinfect- ing impacted areas of the store or the entire location.” While there were pharmacists at the Chel- sea location who worked at other stores, “none were ever presumed positive or in contact with someone who was presumed positive,”Walgreens said. CVS said it has introduced policies to en- sure the safety of employees, whether they work at a single location or are part of the “subset of pharmacists who ‘float’ between different store locations.”Those policies in- clude requiring employees to wear masks; installing protective shields at counters and checkout stations; hourly cleanings for hard surfaces; and a wellness and temperature check before an employee begins a shift.