Working Through a Pandemic (Part 2)
Smith Communication Partners can help you navigate the choppy waters and tidal wave of Covid-19 information and messages cascading over your business and employees.
One of Smith’s partner firms is Viven Health which has developed a unique hand hygiene training program that can be effective in protecting your employees from the coronavirus. Viven Health is led by Dr. Tom Ahrens, a research scientist who is an international authority on infectious diseases.
We sat down with Dr. Tom recently to pose a number of questions we are receiving from clients and contacts about the coronavirus and how best to keep ourselves protected. In our last communication, we presented a few high-level queries and answers on common coronavirus topics. Today we continue our session (part 1) with Dr. Tom to give you more insights on how to prepare for and deal with the new virus. Look for more updates from Smith in the coming weeks.
How important is it for people who are sick to stay home? We have a culture where people go to work unless they are really sick.
Very important! There are three common symptoms of Covid 19: fever, cough and shortness of breath. You’re first going to see a fever and maybe body aches, much like a flu. If you have a fever, 100 degrees or higher, you absolutely need to stay home. Even if you have a mild experience, you need to stay home so you don’t infect others.
Some of the news reports are discouraging people with mild to moderate symptoms from walking into the ER or their doctor’s office. Can telehealth medicine fill the gap here?
Absolutely. We should be using telehealth enormously now. If you’re having trouble breathing, clearly go to the emergency room. But if your symptoms are manageable, use telehealth first and they will tell you if you need to go to the ER.
Unless you have a preexisting condition or happen to unfortunately be seriously affected, it sounds like COVID-19 is something you’ll be able to manage at home. What do people need to have on hand at home?
Really, it’s no different than what you need to manage a cold or flu.
Once you get COVID-19, can you get it again?
Like with any virus, we anticipate we will develop an immunity to it. So, if someone is sick now, this coming fall they should have immunity and won’t get it again.
You’ve been talking about cold, flu, pneumonia, sepsis, and other viral and bacterial prevention for years now. It must be frustrating to have a proven method that could have made a difference in stemming the tide, but also hopeful in the sense that employers can have an impact on a go-forward basis.
Employers need to prepare and find ways to mitigate the loss of productivity. This is going to hit them and there is no way around this. I think we have 18 months of COVID-19 to go. This is going to be a long and drawn-out fight. In the meantime, we’ve got to get out and educate people on the best ways to mitigate infection.
Keep in mind that Smith can help you build and implement your communications strategy around the coronavirus. For more information, call your usual Smith contact or Don Sanford of Smith’s St. Louis office at 314.348.4687.