CDC Releases Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan for Flu Season

(Aug. 24, 2009) The Westport Weston Health District encourages local businesses to take action now so as to decrease the spread of seasonal flu and H1N1 flu in the workplace and to help maintain business continuity during the 2009 – 2010 influenza season.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) anticipates that more communities may be affected by the H1N1 virus than were in the spring/summer 2009, and/or more severely affected, reflecting wider transmission and possibly greater impact. In addition, seasonal influenza viruses may cause illness at the same time as H1N1 this fall and winter. The CDC has released new guidance for businesses and employers to plan and respond.

The severity of illness that the H1N1 influenza will cause or the amount of illness that may occur as a result of seasonal influenza during the upcoming flu season cannot be predicted with a high degree of certainty. Therefore, employers should plan for flexibility in their response to varying degrees of severity, and be prepared to refine their plans if a potentially more serious outbreak of influenza evolves during the fall and winter.

Simple measures, practiced consistently, will help decrease the spread of flu. Encourage employees to wash hands frequently, cover coughs and sneezes, routinely clean commonly touched surfaces, and to stay home if they are sick.

One of the best ways to reduce the spread of influenza is to keep sick people away from well people. Employees should be advised to self-monitor for influenza-like-illness (ILI), and to stay home if they are ill. All employees with ILI are recommended to stay home and not return to work until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications. Expect sick employees to be out for about 3 – 5 days in most cases, even if antiviral medications are used.

This is the time to review sick leave policies to ensure that they are flexible and consistent with public health guidance. It is recommended that doctor’s notes not be required to validate that a person can return to work. Doctor’s offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and unable to provide that documentation. Also, employers should be aware that workers may need to stay home to care for ill children or other family members, which should be considered in your policy review.

Monitoring of the incidence and severity of influenza-like-illness, be it from H1N1 or seasonal flu, by the CDC and state and local departments of public health will determine what additional action steps might be recommended for businesses and the community. If severity increases, public health officials may recommend a variety of measures to increase the physical distance between people (called social distancing) to reduce the spread of disease. These may include school dismissal, child care program closure, canceling of large gatherings, including large business meetings, spacing workers farther apart in the workplace, canceling non-essential travel, and recommending work-from-home strategies for those who can conduct their business remotely. It is essential to your business that you take steps now to be prepared for this year’s flu season.

WWHD strongly encourages businesses to review the CDC’s Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009 – 2010 Influenza Season, available at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/guidance.