H1N1 preparation hits fever pitch

On short notice last week, state officials scheduled a summit to brief municipal and health-care organizations on preparations for the coming influenza season, and particularly on the novel H1N1 strain that has affected nearly 2,000 state residents this year, with several people dying of swine-flu complications.

While the summit occurred Sept. 10, in one sense the countdown to flu season in Connecticut officially began 10 days earlier, when the state began accepting pre-registrations for H1N1 vaccines from doctors and health clinics. At deadline, the Connecticut Department of Public Health was unable to provide figures on pre-registration demand by physicians.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was scheduled to begin shipping vaccines by mid-October, though CDC says the possibility exists that shipments could begin in late September. The government is providing vaccines free of charge, while allowing doctors and nurses to charge a fee for giving shots.

America”™s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing carriers, indicated its members say they will cover the cost of vaccines for members.

The availability and efficacy of the vaccine will be a major wild card in whether businesses will face a nightmare scenario of employee absenteeism. During the SARS pandemic of 2005, absenteeism ranged between 25 percent and 40 percent in part due to general fear, as well as school closings and travel restrictions among other factors, according to Dr. Russ Robbins, a senior clinical consultant in the Norwalk office of Mercer L.L.C., a human-resources consultancy. Robbins briefed members of the Business Council of Fairfield County on the topic this summer.

 

Businesses need to consider an array of measures for the differing segments of their work forces that may be at greater risk of coming in contact with people infected with H1N1, according to Robbins.

 

 

Those special considerations range from hazard pay for delivery employees to how sales commissions and bonuses will be calculated if typical goals cannot be reached as a result of an H1N1 outbreak. That in turn could potentially expose employers to discrimination lawsuits if they do not apply rules equally across an enterprise.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is making a flier available to businesses titled “Pandemic influenza: what you can do” to help employees learn how to avoid getting sick, and to be prepared at home.

The Public Health Department advises businesses to:

  • ensure that employees know company rules about sick leave, absences, time off and working from home;
  • adopt policies and practices that encourage sick employees to stay home;
  • prepare employees to perform duties that are not usually part of their jobs;
  • develop a continuity-of-operations plan (COOP) to be prepared to continue essential business functions in the event of severe staffing shortages, and conduct dry runs to identify any gaps;
  • assess how the company functions, both internally and externally, to determine which staff, materials, procedures and equipment are absolutely necessary to keep the business operating;
  • plan for continuity of payroll, and identify suppliers, shippers and other businesses that bring daily interactions;
  • discuss deadlines and deliverables with customers and clients to identify essential products and services during an emergency;
  • plan for a building, plant or store being inaccessible, and define crisis-management procedures and individual responsibilities in advance;
  • be prepared to temporarily close a company facility if requested by public health officials;
  • contact the health department about the community”™s preparedness plans;
  • coordinate with neighboring businesses, first responders, suppliers, shippers, and other community members to prepare and help with emergency response;
  • attend chamber of commerce events on pandemic flu preparedness; and
  • cancel business conventions, conferences, meetings and social events.

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