COVID-19 Is Rapidly Changing the World: Is Your Workplace Keeping Up?
In only a short few months, COVID-19 has had an economic impact not seen in generations. And sadly, it seems like more is yet to come. As the number of confirmed cases mount, the odds of a major economic downturn seems inevitable.
A major challenge all businesses across the board have faced is how to continue to operate while maintaining safe practices. Here’s all that you need to you about COVI-19 and how you can know if your place of business is keeping up with proper safety protocols.
What You Need to Know About COVID-19
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It can produce a wide range of symptoms, with fever, cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, and muscle aches being the most common.
As a respiratory disease, the virus is mainly spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets. This means that coughing, speaking, or even breathing are all possible transmission vectors. And the virus may be spread by individuals who do not demonstrate symptoms.
The virus can also be absorbed through the membranes found in the eyes, nose, and mouth.
What It Means for Your Workplace
In response to the challenges posed by this novel virus, authorities like OSHA have compiled their own sets of guidelines on how business should be best conducted in order to assure workplace safety. These briefs cover the basics, like what kind of masks are effective, the basic rights that workers have under the law, and how they can report violations.
Hard information on the virus is still limited, but experts have produced strategies that can help limit transmission.
Requirements vary slightly by workplace type. For instance, a good set of guidelines on what safety in a warehouse space should look like can be found here.
In general, safety protocols boil down to standard advice like maintaining a 6-foot distance between individuals, wearing masks and/or face shields and keeping hands as clean as possible.
The CDC also recommends that workplaces should formulate their own COVID-19 response plans. They should also name an on-site coordinator to ensure compliance with these protocols.
Businesses are also recommended to implement more flexible sick-leave policies. This and other forms of employee support can reduce the pressure on workers to show up when they may be ill.
Staying In Business While Staying Safe
At this time, it remains to be seen when the threat of COVID-19 will pass. But we can probably assume that until a reliable vaccine can be mass-produced and made widely available, this is going to have to be our new normal. We can get through this; we have to be smart, be aware, and look out for ourselves and for each other.
And we can expect to learn more about COVID-19 in the weeks and months to come. So to make sure that you’re in the loop, be sure to keep up with all the latest from GoodSitesLike.
With over 20+ years of experience in a variety of corporate and entrepreneurial environments, Diana has developed a great understanding of Marketing Strategy, Brand Development, Customer Success, Public Relations and Management. Her internal drive for developing others and external brands, has allowed her to work in some of the largest cities in the world including Milan, Paris, NY, Mexico, and the Middle East. This experience has been fundamental to Diana’s success and ability to communicate cross-culturally.
