At Save the Chimps, the health, safety, and well-being of sanctuary staff and our chimpanzee residents remains our top priority. As COVID-19 continues to impact our community and we adjust to this “new normal,” we want to assure you that we are taking action on a daily basis to protect and support Save the Chimps.
As a community, Save the Chimps is taking the following measures to ensure the health and safety of all employees reporting to the sanctuary for work as well as chimp residents:
- Limiting Sanctuary Personnel: Only essential personnel are allowed onsite & all care staff are restricted to their assigned buildings (except for necessary lock checks in buildings within their sections) as a means of ensuring that there is no crossover
- Personnel Are Being Sent Home for Signs of Illness:
- Anyone who is ill and is positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the cause of COVID-19), is required to quarantine at home for at least 10 days & is not permitted to return to work at Save the Chimps until they have been symptom-free without the aid of medication for three consecutive days at the end of the quarantine
- Any asymptomatic carriers (test positive but have no detectable symptoms) are required to quarantine at home for ten days from the test date before returning to work
- Any personnel exhibiting symptoms which cannot be differentiated from COVID-19 are required to quarantine at home for 10 days & is not permitted to return to work at Save the Chimps until they have been symptom-free without the aid of medication for three consecutive days at the end of the quarantine
- Administering Regular Temperature Checks: Personnel have their temperature measured twice daily
- Practicing Social Distancing: Six‐feet minimal interpersonal distancing (including keeping a minimum distance of 6 feet from the chimps whenever possible) is required everywhere on the sanctuary for employees as well as vendors
- No Unnecessary Contact With Chimps:
- Only necessary contact with chimps is permitted (feeding, cleaning, medicating, enrichment and Kardia, which is limited to chimps already Kardia-trained)
- Veterinary procedures are confined to urgent and emergent cases
- Proper Face Coverings Are Required:
-
- Masks are required for all sanctuary personnel, including vendors who are onsite for more than a very brief delivery
- Face shields are required for personnel while inside chimpanzee housing or while working with an anesthetized chimpanzee
-
- Gloves Are Required: Gloves are required for handling chimpanzee medication, food and enrichment (including their bins and delivery containers), toys, bedding and medical care
- Increasing Cleaning: All common surfaces (surfaces touched by more than one person) sanctuary wide are sanitized at least twice daily.
- Handwashing & Footbaths: Frequent handwashing is required–following the World Health Organization protocol–as is the use of footbath located at entrances to chimp housing, food storage, the kitchen and the veterinary department
- Providing Hand Sanitizer: Hand sanitizer dispensers have been provided in every bathroom on campus
Feel free to reach out to us at comms@savethechimps.org if you have any questions.