COVID-19 Prevention

How Gateway Arts Works to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19

With guidance from the health professionals at Vinfen, Gateway Arts adheres to rigid protocols designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep its artists, staff, and visitors healthy and safe.

Gateway Arts studios comprise more than 5,000 square feet and can easily accommodate safe distancing for 56 artists each day. We currently have eight staff members providing direct care onsite and seven studios open. Vinfen requires all staff to be fully vaccinated (or to submit to regular testing) and strongly encourages vaccination for all clients and program participants.

No one may enter the Gateway Arts program until they pass the daily screening test (as updated according to Vinfen protocols). We conduct daily checks of staff and artists’ temperatures, and send home anyone with elevated temps or any symptoms of COVID-19.

If an artist reports symptoms while at Gateway Arts they will isolate and be monitored by one staff member. The staff member will conduct a rapid test and provide the artist with an KN95 mask and access to their own bathroom. Gateway Arts will contact the artist’s caregiver/guardian/residential provider to transport them home. That artist and team will receive instructions on when it is safe to reenter the studios.

If an artist or staff person contracts COVID-19 (COVID-19 positive test OR symptomatic and presumed to have COVID-19) they can return ONLY when they have met the criteria for discontinuing home isolation and have consulted with a health care provider in accordance with Department of Public Health guidance. Gateway Arts staff follow Vinfen protocol in determining who had close contact with artist/staff.

If an artist or staff person tests positive for COVID-19 but is asymptomatic, isolation may be discontinued when at least 6 days have passed from the date of the positive test, as long as the individual remains asymptomatic and can consistently wear a mask through 10 days. If an artist or staff person tests positive for COVID-19 and is symptomatic, isolation may be discontinued after at least 6 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Additionally, at least 24 hours MUST PASS since recovery; all symptoms must resolve without the use of fever reducing medications and the individual must be able to consistently wear a mask through 10 days.

If there is a positive case at Gateway Arts, we adhere to the following protocol:

Gateway Arts Program Director or designee will use the Vinfen Protocol “Notifying Required Parties” guidelines to include any additional precautions needed to ensure the program space is safe for continued services. The NOTIFICATION email is sent out to DDS regionally and also to the greater Gateway Arts community and individuals are contacted directly if there is a close contact or exposure.

Gateway Arts will provide artists and facilitators with a clean face mask for the workday. Everyone will keep their face masks ON while they are at the program except when they change their mask during arrival/departure and while eating lunch.

Artists are stationed throughout the studios with a radius of at least six feet of space between them and another individual. This space will become theirs throughout the day. This is where they will work and have lunch. Artists take breaks and stretch in place; always adhering to safe protocols. During lunch all are encouraged to remain a safe distance, to engage in conversation with the mask on and to wash hands before and after eating.

Artists are supplied with their own, personal art materials. There will be no shared material use. Materials and finished art pieces are stored individually and separately. Artists are also given cleaning supplies to make sure their area is sparkling clean after they use it!

Each artist and staff person is assigned a bathroom each day and may only use that bathroom. Appropriate and proper bathroom use will be expected. Hand washing will be encouraged throughout the workday!

Artists must wash their hands upon arrival, prior to lunch, following lunch and prior to dismissal. In addition, hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed throughout the program. Artists and staff at Gateway Arts understand these protocols are in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep its artists, staff, and visitors healthy and safe!

For more information about Vinfen’s COVID-19 response, please visit https://vinfen.org/covid-19-response/