Business Targeted Script:

Hey there.  Dr. Habermehl again, still out for my walk feeding the mosquito in the bush.  This time, I’m touching base about a few things that might be relevant to local business owners in the time of COVID.  As a community doc who is helping guide the Red Lake COVID Assessment Unit, I've been reaching out to some employers directly, to ensure they know about the expanded testing guidelines for at-risk employees.  There are a couple of common themes that have come up in these conversations, so I figured this was a great way to share.

Now let's get this disclaimer part out of the way first.  The content of this video is not intended as specific medical advice for any individual or a business.  It is not a prediction about what COVID would do to an individual business or what Public Health might advise.  It's meant as information and food for thought.  You should direct any specific questions about your own health to your doctor's office.  If you are a local employer and you have a question about COVID but you're not sure who to ask, you could reach out to the Red Lake Covid Assessment Unit and we can try to help you navigate.  You can also find information designed for businesses at covid-19.ontario.ca. That’s covid-19.ontario.ca 

If you’re interested in encouraging your workers to get tested, visit RedLake hospital.ca/covid19. 
For info you could pass on to your staff.

Several people I've talked with have wondered, now that testing is expanded, what happens if someone tests positive.  The first thing to know is that, in Red Lake and Ear Falls, the Northwestern Health Unit is responsible for contact tracing when a positive result is found and for ensuring the individual with COVID is respecting quarantine.  Public health nurses ask a patient who's tested positive for the names and contact details of all those they have been in contact with during a given time frame.  That time frame can vary, depending on whether the individual had symptoms or if they simply had a test done because they were worried about their risk of exposure.  If someone who works for you is found to be positive, it's reasonable to expect that the nurses will contact you and work with you to identify what level of exposure you, your other employees and your customers might have had.  This might mean asking you who worked during scheduled shifts during certain time frames-- Public health will not provide employers the identity of the person who tested positive, nor will any other healthcare provider.  

Public Health protocol currently dictates that if an individual is considered a high-risk close contact of someone with COVID, they will be mandated to self-isolation for 14 days.  The COVID positive person will, of course, also have a mandated quarantine.  Public Health Ontario has a series of criteria used to determine the risk level of contacts, including the length of exposures, the physical distance during the exposures and whether there was personal protective equipment that should fully protect against droplets.

Keeping everyone in a facility more than 2 metres apart at all times, having policies that mandate good hand hygiene and encouraging people to stay home if they have any symptoms that could be COVID can, most importantly, reduce the chance of spreading an infection.  Ensuring generous physical distancing can also decrease the chance of being deemed a "high-risk close contact" during Public Health contact tracing.  Now remember, a high risk close contact is required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Public health touches base with patients who have COVID and their close contacts every day to ensure they are doing OK and to ensure they are appropriately isolating from others, as required.  If these are your employees, they will not be able to attend work in person in any manner.

There have been many creative solutions around the area to try and reduce the spread of COVID. So many of you whose businesses could be modified, rallied and made virtual service and curb-side pick up a reality.   If you haven't already considered it, is there a way that you can move those workstations further apart?  Can you add hand-sanitizing stations around your facility?  Can you adjust your lunch schedules so that the lunchroom isn't too crowded?

Listen, I know this has been really tough, scary and even debilitating for many business owners, big and small.  There are still lots of unknowns related to whatever it is "opening up" may look like.  This video was designed to provide some transparency about processes that could impact a business if it were directly touched by COVID, but there is simply no way to predict exactly what the course would be.  While I wish I could, I can't provide certainty for you.  But I can provide information.  And I'm hopeful that information is a useful tool for you in moving forward through the unknowns. Now off to my work, All the best everyone.