Maintaining the health and readiness of the workforce throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been a priority of the Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM) as it has continued to deliver training and assessments since the onset in early March. Throughout the pandemic, FORCECOM has provided critical training to more than 10,345 members and held nearly 150 audit, inspection or assessment events, and through careful adherence to health and safety guidelines, has done so without any large-scale infection events.
One of the core risk mitigation practices that have been implemented at training centers (TRACENs) across the service has been the usage of a 14-day onsite medical monitoring period, commonly known as restriction of movement or ROM. This 14-day medical monitoring period is based on the incubation period for COVID-19 and enables members to be evaluated for signs or symptoms of the disease. However, FORCECOM units are now shifting to a Home ROM for Training (HT-ROM) period in which members will be able to complete the medical monitoring period at their residence to enable more flexibility to units and their personnel.
“We recognize this ongoing pandemic is presenting both personal and professional challenges to members across the service,” said Dr. Gladys Brignoni, FORCECOM director. “While a 14-day medical monitoring period is vital to preventing a large scale outbreak at our training facilities, we recognize the burden an onsite ROM places on the field. By working together to adhere to these guidelines prior to the start of training, we hope to reduce that burden on our workforce by enabling them to conduct this medical monitoring period at home.”
Members and units will be required to complete and certify adherence to a set of guidelines contained in the FORCECOM HT-ROM guide, located on the portal.
At the completion of the 14-day ROM period, members will then travel in accordance with guidelines contained in the guide to the respective training center.
These Home ROM for Training protocols will be in effect for more than 110 Coast Guard delivered C-schools; onsite ROM practices remain in place for accession sources, A-schools and certain Department of Defense and DHS provided class C-schools.
In addition, FORCECOM will be employing “bubble-to-bubble” transfers for students traveling from an underway major cutter that has been previously certified as COVID-free. This will enable students from these units to travel direct to training without conducting an additional ROM period.
Additional details on “bubble-to-bubble” transfers can be found here.
FORCECOM is continuing to adapt and refine their practices as this ongoing pandemic in order to deliver critical training to the workforce in a safe environment.
Resources:
COVID-19: Continuity of FORCECOM Readiness Activities (to include class "A" and "C" schools) ALCOAST 408/20