This week, America’s businesses are grappling with the idea of re-opening and returning to some form of normalcy, whatever that is, following the many impacts of COVID-19 on our nation’s health and economy. This return is particularly difficult for the nation’s smaller businesses, especially those that deal with customers and members of the public.

The “new normal,” as social distancing guidelines are relaxed, will be focused on practical methods to prevent pathogen transmission and aimed at protecting public health. As the demand for our hands-on classroom certification and educational training in occupational health, safety, industrial hygiene and environmental compliance rapidly “returns to normal,” EI has developed a plan, aimed at providing a safe classroom environment to our students.

Once your community is no longer requiring significant mitigation policies in response to COVID-19, social distancing will be gradually relaxed. This prudent “step by step” approach should also be followed when re-staffing business operations.

Under normal circumstances, OSHA would require employers to determine work-relatedness in order to decide if an injury or illness should be recorded on the OSHA 300 (the Log). Making that determination was not, in most cases, very difficult.

Is your operation classified as an “essential business” during “Stay at Home” social distancing policies which have been implemented by over 40 states nationwide? Have you identified key employees necessary at the workplace to keep your business viable during the pandemic? If so, your operation is faced with the tremendous responsibility of minimizing the potential for employee-to-employee transmission of the coronavirus. Identification of workers with COVID-19 symptoms or employees who may have been exposed to known carriers is paramount in minimizing viral transmission within your workforce.

There has been a great deal of confusion and misinformation lately regarding the use of respirators as a safeguard from COVID-19. The most recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that wearing some type of face mask may prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, but offers little protection from contracting the disease.

The pathogen occupying all of our thoughts at present is transmitted from person-to-person primarily via virus-impacted droplets that are generated when infected persons cough, sneeze or speak. Studies have found that the COVID-19 virus can remain viable on surfaces for several hours up to days, including up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

EI has been closely monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and documenting its progress and impact in a series of blogs beginning late January. Early in this series we addressed the importance of updating corporate business contingency plans to include key strategies which address the impact of COVID-19 on employees/business operations. EI’s third blog addressed proper personal protective equipment to minimize exposure to the pathogen, including a comparison of the effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks.

As the virus (newly dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization) accelerates and spreads beyond Chinese borders, businesses are deploying increasingly rigorous measures to limit the spread of the potential pandemic. Most news articles covering the spread of the virus include photos of travelers or government officials wearing surgical masks. But how effective will surgical masks for respiratory protection from the pathogen turn out to be? Is a surgical mask enough or is an N95 respirator needed?

Just one week ago, The EI Group updated our blog recipients on the state of the emerging coronavirus. In just one week, mortality has vastly exceeded the SARS virus (349 versus 560 coronavirus fatalities). Reported cases of the coronavirus have eclipsed 28,000, nearly a seven-fold increase in only one week! In contrast, the entire SARS outbreak resulted in only 5,327 infected.

News about the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), commonly known as the “Wuhan Coronavirus,” has dominated the headlines for days now. Over 4,500 cases have now been confirmed in Mainland China and 106 people are dead as the death toll continues to rise. The virus has some link to a large seafood and animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. However, a growing number of patients have reportedly not had exposure to the animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread is occurring.