Lowndes County employees to receive sick leave if diagnosed with COVID-19

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The changing landscape of the COVID Pandemic has private and public employers pivoting on sick leave policies.

The Omicron variant, while more contagious, is causing less severe illness.

That prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its quarantine and masking guidance.

Lowndes County is following suit.

Vaccinated County employees who contracted COVID have been allowed 80 extra hours of sick leave.

Tuesday, supervisors voted to scale that back to 5 days or 40 hours.

“What changed is from the 80 hours to 40 hours, and that was really based upon the CDC guidelines of a quarantine of 5 days. Mask up after the 5 days, if you still have, if you do not have symptoms,” said Trip Hairston, President of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.

If an employee is out for more than 5 days with COVID or under quarantine, the additional time will come out of their 12 days of regular sick leave.