Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Employers told to brace for swine flu’s return

The flu — be it seasonal or a recent outbreak — attacks more than just an individual. It can cripple a business.

As businesses struggle because of the recession, federal officials are concerned that another swine flu outbreak could further devastate the economy. The Commerce, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments issued guidelines Aug. 19 to the business community to help avoid a flu outbreak in the workplace.

The guidelines aim to protect people where they work, limit the effect on businesses and avert large-scale absences.

Seasonal flu and the H1N1 strain, also known as the swine flu, are expected to have a “significant impact” on businesses and schools in the coming months, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said.

“It’s in the employers’ economic self-interest to be flexible and as accommodating as possible,” he said.

The swine flu is capable of infecting many more people during the fall compared with the mild outbreak in late spring and summer. Most people don’t have immunity to it, especially those from 5 to 60 years old. Children under 5, people with chronic diseases such as asthma or heart conditions and pregnant women are also at a higher risk.

Half of the United States could become infected with the deadly virus.

A report Aug. 24 by the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology suggests that the flu could surge during the remainder of this year.

The nation is not facing the sort of influenza pandemic that killed millions in 1918-19, but the virus could be stronger than the benign strain of swine flu that started in 1976, the report said. During the swine flu scare of ’76, the government immunized more than 40 million people before that strain had a chance to spread, the report said.

The report emphasized that its predictions are “planning scenarios.”

“It is likely to infect more people than usual because it is a new strain against which few people have immunity,” the report said. “This could mean that doctors’ offices and hospitals may get filled to capacity.”

The report said that it is plausible, although impossible to predict, up to 50 percent of the U.S. population could become infected with the swine flu, and up to 40 percent would have symptoms. Of those, half would seek medical care. This could lead to 1.8 million hospital admissions and 300,000 people admitted to intensive care units, possibly filling up all of the nation’s intensive care beds. The report also predicts that 30,000 to 90,000 people could die from the virus, mostly children and young adults.

Because children are returning to school, a resurgence of the virus is expected in September, with a peak of the infection in October. The problem is that the vaccine won’t be widely available until mid-October, and it takes several weeks for immunity to build after a vaccine shot, the report said.

This strain of swine flu, discovered in Mexico in April, spread to Clark County a month later. The Southern Nevada Health District has reported seven deaths and 278 cases in the county as of Aug. 14.

Besides advice to wash hands frequently and cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing, the government suggests businesses stagger shifts and allow workers to telecommute from home, including those who are exhibiting symptoms, are sick or tending to a sick family member.

Employees should be trained to do co-workers jobs so that if someone does become ill, someone else can manage their job while they are out.

If workers don’t have sick leave, it’s in a workplace’s best interest to reassure those workers they will still have a job if they take time off to fight the flu, Locke said. Otherwise, a sick worker may struggle into work, possibly infecting his colleagues.

Don’t require workers to bring in a doctor’s note after being out with the flu, he said. Because doctors are expected to be inundated with patients who may have the flu, foregoing this will free up more time for doctors to treat other patients.

Unfortunately for businesses and their workers, there isn’t federal money to help out. Companies will have to prepare — on their own dime — whether it’s to cross-train workers, help get employees vaccinated or provide a flexible work schedule for sick employees or those caring for an ill child or elderly person, Locke said.

The Health District has a workplace vaccination program — its workers visit businesses to vaccinate employees against the flu, hepatitis A and B, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

However, because the swine flu vaccine will be distributed by the federal government, and the Health District expects a limited supply, it won’t add the swine flu vaccine to its workplace program, spokeswoman Stephanie Bethel said.

When the Health District gets its supply of the vaccine, and especially if it is limited, people in certain groups such as health care workers, pregnant women and providers of care for children 6 months and older will have access to the vaccine first, she said.

Locke said the bottom line is that businesses can’t wait for someone to get sick. Instead, employers need to plan now to stave off a potential outbreak.

Go to flu.gov/plan/workplaceplanning/guidance.html for more information or for a tool kit.

Reporter Mary Manning of the Las Vegas Sun, a sister publication of In Business Las Vegas, contributed to this article.

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