News Photo by Julie Riddle Paramedics from the Alpena Fire Department prepare a patient for transport Tuesday. Safety precautions, such as gloves and masks, help medical responders stay safe when in close contact with people who may be carrying the coronavirus.

ALPENA — District Health Department Nos. 2 and 4 joined with other Northern Michigan health departments in issuing an emergency order requiring essential businesses to screen their workers for coronavirus symptoms and implement a plan to manage social distancing in the workplace.

The emergency order goes into effect at noon Monday and expires on April 13.

While there has not been a confirmed case of COVID-19 in Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency or Presque Isle counties, Health Department officials feel it is necessary to take additional steps “to protect the health and safety for all.”

A provision in the state’s public health code allows a local health officer to issue and enforce an emergency order.

Denise Bryan, administrative health officer of Health Department Nos. 2 and 4, decided to enact an emergency order the day she received the death report of an individual in Cheboygan county.

“There, quite frankly, are lives on the line,” Bryan said, noting there are people returning from spring breaks and vacations as well as people from downstate traveling to their cabins in Northern Michigan.

Under the emergency order, essential businesses would have to document whether employees are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, including a fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, or diarrhea.

Additionally, the business needs to determine whether a worker has had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, determine whether the worker engaged in any activity or travel in the last 14 days that violated Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state-mandated stay home order and determine whether the worker has been directed by the Health Department either to self-isolate or self-quarantine.

If an essential work answers “yes” to any of the screening questions, they should be excluded from work:

3 days with no fever and 7 days since the onset of the first symptom

14 days if there is close contact with a diagnosed case of COVID-19

14 days following any activity or travel

Essential businesses must also create a plan to manage and control social distancing, where workers would be spaced six feet from their coworkers and customers waiting in lines within or outside of the business.

Violating the Health Department’s emergency order could result in a misdemeanor punishable of up to six months in jail or a fine of $200.