As with any illness, it’s essential to keep yourself and your staff safe and up to date on health guidelines. As a Chamber, we encourage our community’s business leaders to take care of themselves and their employees.
As part of disease management, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all sick employees stay home from the workplace, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene is encouraged along with routine cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.
The CDC recommends individuals to:
- Regularly wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds
- Avoid touching the face
- Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers if water and soap aren’t available
- Cough and sneeze into a tissue or an elbow, not into a hand or the air
- If sick, to stay home from work and avoid close contact with elderly or otherwise immunocompromised friends/family
A detailed account of what the CDC recommends can be found here.
With the current number of cases of COVID-19 in the United States, employers should be prepared for the possibility of an increase in absentees. Businesses should be prepared with work from home options to continue business as usual while protecting other employees.
The below documents from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlining healthy habits for employers and employees. The U.S. Chamber also recommends following the guidelines set by the CDC.
