The Covid-19 pandemic is, by any measure, a major event that impacts everyone at seemingly every point in their lives. And an important part of that is business and the livelihoods of the many people employed by those businesses. Since opening up is important to those businesses and the people employed, not to mention society overall, are there any guidelines to help open during this pandemic? Any approaches to keep employees’ protected? Well, there are, and the CDC has 10 of them to share.

The CDC published an article titled “Prepare your Small Business and Employees for the Effects of Covid-19” and in that article, they feature 10 key points to protect your employees’ health during re-opening in the pandemic:

Actively encourage sick employees to stay home. Develop policies that encourage sick employees to stay at home without fear of reprisals, and ensure employees are aware of these policies.	Have conversations with employees about their concerns. Some employees may be at higher risk for severe illness, such as older adults and those with chronic medical conditions.
Develop other flexible policies for scheduling and telework (if feasible) and create leave policies to allow employees to stay home to care for sick family members or care for children if schools and childcare close.	Talk with companies that provide your business with contract or temporary employees about their plans. Discuss the importance of sick employees staying home and encourage them to develop non-punitive “emergency sick leave” policies.
Promote etiquette for coughing and sneezing and handwashing. Provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, soap and water, and hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.	Plan to implement practices to minimize face-to-face contact between employees if social distancing is recommended by your state or local health department. Actively encourage flexible work arrangements such as teleworking or staggered shifts.
Perform routine environmental cleaning. Routinely clean and disinfect all frequently touched surfaces, such as workstations, countertops, handrails, and doorknobs. Discourage sharing of tools and equipment, if feasible.	Consider the need for travel and explore alternatives. Check CDC’s Travelers’ Health for the latest guidance and recommendations. Consider using teleconferencing and video conferencing for meetings, when possible.
Provide education and training materials in an easy to understand format and in the appropriate language and literacy level for all employees, like fact sheets and posters.	If an employee becomes sick while at work, they should be separated from other employees, customers, and visitors and sent home immediately. Follow CDC guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting areas the sick employee visited.

The above 10 suggestions will help small businesses open up safely, help them to protect their employees’ health and help those small businesses be in compliance with regulations and guidelines from Federal, State, and Local authorities. And there is one other thing that will help, as noted by OSHA in their booklet “Guidance for Returning to Work” – Include practices for worker self-monitoring or screening.

Worker self-monitoring or screening can take many forms from the more complicated (using an infrared camera to measure temperature) to a simple set of questions. In many cases, questions make the most sense as they can be administered by employees themselves prior to coming to work. One such systems for that is the C-19 Registration System.

This is a cost-effective system that can be accessed by employees on a phone, laptop computer, or tablet. It allows employee self-screening to be deployed easily in small businesses. It also allows small businesses to have a record of who is sick and who is not, resulting in easy to maintain contact tracing. More information can be found on this system here: C-19 Registration System.