COVID-19 Workplace Issues: Retail Industry Ed Bernacki, MD, MPH Professor of Population Health Dell Medical School Medical Director, WorkLife Clinic UT Health Austin Nick Tsourmas, MD Vice President and Medical Director Texas Mutual Insurance Company Webinar: October 1, 2020
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COVID-19 Workplace Issues: Retail Industry
Ed Bernacki, MD, MPHProfessor of Population Health
Dell Medical SchoolMedical Director, WorkLife Clinic
UT Health Austin
Nick Tsourmas, MD Vice President and Medical Director
Texas Mutual Insurance Company
Webinar:October 1, 2020
Agenda•COVID-19 Facts•Occupational Risk•Controlling COVID-19 at the Worksite •Workers’ Compensation Issues
2019 Novel CoronavirusDecember 31, 2019◦ Cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown
etiology identified in Wuhan, China
January 7, 2020◦ Confirmed that the cluster was associated with a
novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV
•COVID-19• COVID-19 – name of the disease• SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19
Sources: World Health Organization. Pneumonia of unknown cause-China. www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/ World Health Organization. Novel coronavirus-China.www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china
Worker Exposure Risk to COVID-19 Occupational Risk Pyramid for COVID-19 VERY HIGH EXPOSURE RISK Jobs with a high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID-19 during specific medical, postmortem, or laboratory procedures. Workers include: • Healthcare and morgue workers performing aerosol-generating procedures on or collecting/handling specimens from potentially infectious patients or bodies of people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of death.
HIGH EXPOSURE RISK Jobs with a high potential for exposure to known or suspected sources of COVID-19. Workers in this category include: • Healthcare delivery, healthcare support, medical transport, and mortuary workers exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients or bodies of people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of death.
MEDIUM EXPOSURE RISK Jobs that require frequent/close contact with people who may be infected, but who are not known or suspected patients. Workers in this category include: • Those who may have contact with the general public (e.g., schools, high-population-density work environments, some high-volume retail settings), including individuals returning from locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission.
LOWER EXPOSURE RISK (CAUTION) Jobs that do not require contact with people known to be, or suspected of being, infected. • Workers in this category have minimal occupational contact with the public and other coworkers.
For more information, see the Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19.
The four exposure risk levels represent
probable distribution of risk.
Occupations with Most COVID-19 cases in Washington State
Actions Employers can take to Protect their workforce:
1. Employee issues (Education/Screening) 2. Travel issues (Restrict Travel)3. Social distancing methods 4. Disinfection practices 5. Personal Protective Equipment (Masks) 6. Ventilation 7. Policies and procedures
Source: http://www.mdguidelines.com
Screening to avoid having workers/visitors with potential COVID-19 symptoms to enter the workplace:
• Daily/periodic questionnaires, temperature measurements.
• If positive, restrict employee/visitor from workplace and advise evaluation by a healthcare provider. RTW when cleared by medical provider
Employee Issues: COVID-19 Surveillance
Source: http://www.mdguidelines.com
• Sick employees should stay home- to eliminate all contact between the healthy workers and anyone with potentially infectious symptoms!!
Employee Issues: Sick Employees with Possible
COVID-19 Symptoms
Source: http://www.mdguidelines.com
According to the newest (July 19, 2020) CDC recommendations, for an employee who has been exposed or recovered from COVID-19, re-entry into the workplace should consist of one of the following:
• At least 10 days have passed since they first had symptoms, or 10 days have passed since an initial positive test for COVID-19 if they had no symptoms.
• Be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications such as acetaminophen or aspirin.
• All other COVID-19 related symptoms have improved.
• Avoid shared equipment when possible (e.g., keyboards)
• Clean surfaces with an EPA-approved viricidal agents. (62-71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide, 0.1% sodium hypochlorite) for at least 1 minute. Clorox=5.25% sodium hypochlorite solution.
• Provide ample hand sanitizer and hand-sanitizer stations and encourage frequent hand washing.
Disinfection Practices and Contact Spread Measures
Source: http://www.mdguidelines.com
Increased ventilation (general and local) has been underutilized as a potential COVID-19 control:
• Use local ventilation to supply clean air to a worker’s workspace.
• Utilize increased air exchanges in the HVAC system to dilute the generalambient air.
• Where possible, use fixed/portable High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtration systems for small work areas.
Ventilation Issues
Source: http://www.mdguidelines.com
Work Related or Not?Occupational Disease or Ordinary Disease of Life. Burden of Proof on Insurance Carrier/Policyholder or Employee?
Burden of Proof on Employer/Insurance Carrier-Presumed Work-Related: Essential Workers, First Responders and Healthcare Workers in Many States
Texas—not an occupational illness, burden of proof on employee.
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