AP: Employers play Dr. Mom to limit swine flu impact

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20091129/D9C9C0C00.html

Nov 29, 1:40 PM (ET)

By LINDA A. JOHNSON

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Big businesses are spending serious time and money trying to limit the swine flu pandemic's impact on operations, from bankrolling video on good hygiene to training employees to cover for co-workers with critical jobs.

Companies from health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. to beverage can maker Ball Corp. are arranging for employees with flu symptoms or sick family members to work from home where possible, holding fewer in-person meetings, even discouraging handshakes. And hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes and tissues are at the ready everywhere as employers make keeping workers healthy their first line of defense.

Employers are playing Dr. Mom, teaching about hygiene, distributing information about the pandemic, telling folks to stay home if they get sick - generally with pay - and scrapping the required doctor's note. Some companies have even distributed "wellness kits" with thermometers and face masks.

Whether those efforts and other measures will protect businesses will depend largely on whether the swine flu mutates into a more-dangerous virus.

"Large and mid-sized organizations are not going to go bankrupt. Small organizations, that could be different," says Jim MacMicking of business continuity consultants SunGard Availability Services.

His company has seen a surge of customers seeking guidance on preparing for swine flu and either beefing up their telecommunications capacity or, if they can't afford it because of the weak economy, reallocating laptops and other equipment to key personnel.

FULL story at link.

[jwirr]

1. I am reading the book "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry and

that sounds like a good move. However, a real pandemic moves very fast and once you recognize you are sick it may be too late for those around you.

[Warpy]

3. Right, flu has a long prodromal stage

which means a person is infected but not yet sick and is shedding virus and infecting people around him. When he feels sick, that means his immune system has recognized an invading virus and has mounted an attack. His immune system is what makes him feel lousy, not the virus itself.

Also, with this flu, people shed virus up to a week after the temperature is down and they're starting to feel well again.

At least employers are wising up and sending sick people home this time. That will slow it down but not stop it, and sometimes slowing it down is the best you can do with any infectious outbreak.

[endless october]

2. send sick people home.

all business should adopt this policy, and not just this year.

sick people make other workers sick. this causes productivity to drop across the board.

plus, have you ever had to work next to someone who is coughing his ass off? it's distracting and dangerous.

people can't smoke in the workplace anymore. they shouldn't be allowed to hack up biohazards in the workplace, either.

[kestrel91316]

4. I have given my employees ample opportunity to get the H1N1 shot, which

I myself have also had. I went so far as to locate the nearest public health H1N1 clinic where they could get it for free. The employee with a child age 5 has declined to get it for herself OR HER CHILD.

Because humans can pass this on to my patients (cats) AND KILL THEM, I have advised said employees that if they get anything that looks remotely like the flu, they WILL NOT be working for at least a week. And because they are P/T hourly, they will NOT be paid for time lost. I will have to hire substitutes with adequate training/experience for a premium, as it is. I ain't rewarding slackers who should know better.