Influenza & H1N1: How should businesses prepare for impact on the economy?

The information below is provided to help doctors be a resource for their communities. It is adapted from the CDC's Business Toolkit:

Public health officials are gearing up for the fall /winter flu season; this includes the seasonal flu as well as the H1N1 flu virus. While the degree of severity and amount of added illness H1N1 will cause cannot be predicted, the CDC anticipates that more communities will be affected than were this spring /summer. As such, the CDC is urging the following recommendations for businesses to be proactive in keeping employees healthy while limiting disruptions to business operations.

1. Employers should encourage all employees to get the seasonal flu vaccine, working with their health insurers to make certain their plans cover vaccine costs. This vaccine does not cover H1N1.
2. Since the influenza virus is spread by respiratory droplets, tissues and alcohol based hand sanitizers should be available in the workplace.
3. Hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes should be encouraged.
4. Regular, good housekeeping of all commonly touched surfaces in the workplace is essential, particularly for workstations, keyboards and telephones.
5. During an influenza pandemic, all sick people should be allowed to stay home from the workplace without fear of job loss.
6. Workers with flu-like symptoms, including cough or sore throat, chills or fever over 100ºF, and/or runny nose, body aches, headache, tiredness, diarrhea or vomiting, are recommended to stay home; they should not return to work until 24 hours after their fever has resolved.

Employers are encouraged to have a multilayered plan depending on severity of the outbreak. Employers should:

7. Share their flu plan with employees, along with their interest in protecting employee health and maintaining business operations. Explain the HR leave policies and what pay & benefits are available to them.
8. Encourage H1N1 vaccination, which will be available to certain groups in mid October.
9. Consider policies for telecommuting, flex hours or staggered shifts for workers who must care for sick children or other family members, or if local conditions merit that schools or childcare facilities close in your area. Ask employees to consider child care alternatives.
10. Make certain IT systems can handle the increased demand of remote access.
11. Consider cross-training employees in essential core business functions.

The CDC recommends for businesses to be flexible during this time. Requiring a doctor’s note to validate illness may not be realistic if the local health clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed. Give local managers the authority to take appropriate actions as needed and comply with local and state health authorities. Depending on the outbreak’s severity, companies should be prepared to change business practices if needed: identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers or temporarily suspend non-critical operations if need be.

REMEMBER:

Listen to your local and state public health officials, regarding the severity of the outbreak in your area and follow their recommendations. Employers may wish to place links on their corporate and/or employee website regarding current policies and instructions for their employees. For more information, answers to any questions and links to your state health department, go to www.flu.gov.