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[Return to Worksite Strategies]
[Together, we can find our way forward.]
You really got to focus on five things. The first of which is to make sure that what's going on outside, is at a level where you're not putting people at risk in terms of the commute and a variety of other things when they get there.
[Dr. Richard Migliori – Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs, and Chief Medical Officer, UnitedHealth Group]
You don't want to be conducting, bringing people back to work in an environment where you're seeing a surging of healthcare needs, or very high level of viral activity.
The second thing you want to make sure of is that the site itself is prepared. That it's clean. That it's well-maintained. That the water systems have been checked. That the space accommodations inside will allow people to maintain six feet of distance, so that they're protected.
The third thing is to make sure that your protocols are appropriate about, you know, things like your benefit designs. Don't punish people for staying home because they have symptoms, all right? You don't want to make it so that they're feeling forced into work because then they'll misrepresent the symptoms.
The next area is to identify your high-risk people, make sure that people are ready. You want to make sure that people who have a BMI greater than 40 or over age 65, who have major system chronic diseases like heart failure, kidney failure, etc. or that have immunosuppression – either as a result of a disease, such as HIV, or as a result of medications like being on chemotherapy or treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and the like – that those people continue to work from home because right now it’s probably not a good time for them to put themselves at the increased risk that they have.
And then the final piece is the day-to-day monitoring, which starts in the home. And what that is, is to make sure that before somebody heads to work, either driving in their own car or taking public transit, that they do a self-check for the symptoms of cough, fever, shortness of breath, shaking chill, muscle aches, sore throat, headaches.
The cornerstone to taking care of this virus, should it come back or should you have a small outbreak, is to first quickly recognize when it's present, all right? Second, is to go in and test that individual. If that individual is positive, they are sent into isolation. And they do the third thing which is contact tracing, and anybody who had a sustained contact with that individual should be put into a two-week quarantine to look for symptoms.
[Together, we can find our way forward.]
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[Disclaimer]
The information contained herein is not medical or clinical advice, nor is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Commentary is for general informational purposes only.
Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affiliates.
EI20177108 6/20 ©2020 United HealthCare Services, Inc.
