This week’s Dos and Don’ts bust some vaccine myths, cover the CDC’s new international travel rules and much more.
Just the Vax FactsThere are a lot of myths flying around about the COVID-19 vaccines – don’t fall for them. If you know the facts, you’ll know that the vaccines are safe and effective – and create a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. If you have questions about things you’ve heard or read, do check out the facts in the answers to these questions on the Vax Scene site:
- Does the vaccine have side effects?
- Should I be worried that the vaccine was developed, tested and approved too quickly?
- I heard you can get COVID from the vaccine – is that true?
- Can the vaccine alter my DNA?
- Now that people are getting vaccinated, is the pandemic over?
- Does the vaccine cause infertility or pregnancy-related problems?
- If I’ve already had COVID, do I still need to get vaccinated?
Along with other questions and answers on Vax Scene, you can also find a list of counties where our employees live and work and links to their vaccine registration pages, if available. Do register with your local health authority to receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible, if you haven’t already! Check here for a list of registration locations.
CDC’s New International Travel Rules
Don’t miss the news that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rules have changed for international travel, as of January 26. The CDC is now requiring all travelers arriving in the U.S. from international locations to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test that occurred within three days prior to air travel to the U.S. You must provide this documentation to the airline before boarding a flight into the US. Then, once in the U.S., CDC guidance is to quarantine and test again between days three and five. If this test is negative, you may end the quarantine on day seven. If you do not test upon return, you must quarantine for 10 days. CDC guidance includes U.S. territories.
Do remember that international business travel is prohibited for Exelon employees, and we strongly advise against international personal travel. If you are returning to the U.S. from an international trip you must do the following before returning to a work location:
- Notify OHS at your work location of your international travel
- Provide a negative diagnostic test result to OHS from three to five days after your return AND quarantine seven days or
- If you chose not to provide negative test results, you must quarantine for 10 days.
Because you chose to travel internationally, you will not be eligible for COVID pay continuation for the seven- or 10-day quarantine period.
Travel Safely Update
If you must travel internationally (see previous item on new CDC rules), when making your plans, do review the recently updated Foreign Travel Security Policy, which includes a revised list of countries with restrictions and removes the VPN restriction for countries that do not pose a high cyber security risk.
Do notify travelsafely@exeloncorp.com about any international trip—business or personal—where you will require access to the Exelon network with an electronic device.
In certain international locations, remote access of any kind is strictly prohibited due to heightened security concerns. For those locations, don’t travel with any corporate-issued electronic device or mobile devices equipped with Exelon applications, email or data.
While traveling internationally, do report lost, stolen or confiscated electronic devices, suspicious behavior or other security information to the Exelon Security Operations Center at +1-800-550-6154 or +1-410-470-5800.
Send Valentines to Fight Hunger
Have you sent a Valentine to your Community yet? If not, don’t despair! You have the whole month of February. Do complete an act of kindness and post it on our Valentines to the Community KudoBoard to ensure Exelon donates another 10 meals to Meals on Wheels America. There’s no limit to the number of acts of kindness you can do! Exelon will donate up to 250,000 meals in February—10 for every Valentine on the KudoBoard. Don’t forget to record your hours in Powering Communities to receive Dollars for Doers credits too!
Thanks for the Safety Feedback
More than half of you provided valuable feedback on our safety program in our first enterprise-wide safety culture survey last fall. The survey was conducted in partnership with the National Safety Council (NSC), which continues to work with us to analyze the data and develop plans for leveraging our strengths and addressing a few areas for improvement. Your feedback was especially valuable, considering the health and safety challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020 have continued into 2021. We don’t want to get complacent about workplace safety. So, do stay tuned for more detailed information on the survey results, including your OpCo-level results and how you can help enhance our safety focus moving forward.
Update Apple Devices Now!
Do download and install the latest Apple iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 updates, which were just released last week. Apple developed this critical security update after an anonymous researcher found that attackers may be able to remotely hack certain iPhones, iPads and iPods. Specific details can be found here on Apple's support page.
Don't wait to get these updates downloaded and installed on your Apple device!
Please call the Exelon Service Desk at 1-877-9EXELON (1-877-939-3566) if you have questions or require assistance.
