I've posted this article several times over the years, generally at the outset of flu season. It looks like the new coronavirus behaves rather like a more traditional virus, in terms of transmission. So the same precautions ought apply.
Sick employees coming to work will infect others, who will infect others. Here's an article quoting a friend, Dr. Charles Gerba, down the road at the University of Arizona:
“In our studies, we found if we put a tracer virus on the doorknob of an office building, we can detect it on 50 percent of the people’s hands that work in the office and half of the surfaces they commonly touch,” says Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. “People who come to work with the cold virus spread it around.”
Regardless of how thorough a job your janitorial service is doing for you, they cannot deal with ongoing issues through the course of the day. Here's a few things to look at:
1) Get a pack of sanitizing wipes; have your folks use them throughout the day on shared "touch-points": the front door push bar, phone hand sets, counters, elevator buttons, and the like
2) Place hand sanitizer dispensers at strategic points around the office, like the entry to the lunchroom, or a customer sales counter area
3) Speaking of lunchrooms, constantly wipe, with the sanitizing wipe, coffee pot handles, the fridge and microwave handles (and the microwave control panel), the sink faucet, the counter, the hinged top of the trash can
4) Cross train your people. If the only person who can run tomorrow's payroll happens to be sick, you really don't want her to come to work. But you need the payroll done. By somebody.
5) Check the hand soap dispensers in the restrooms: If you use "bulk" soap (it comes by the gallon, and you pour it into the wall dispenser or the under-the-counter bottle), you've a 25% likelihood of the soap harboring bacteria - even if it's anti-bacterial soap. Better to buy the pre-package product. When the dispenser is empty, you pop in a fresh package and nozzle combination. Much less chance of contamination.
In passing, the season might be a good excuse to review what your current office cleaning service is doing, infection control-wise. A good hospital grade disinfectant, after cleaning, in restrooms and lunchrooms; a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner/sanitizer, with a microfiber cloth, for general touch-points; vacuuming hard surface floors, followed by microfiber mopping, both to remove fine particles and pathogens from your facility; black-light inspections, regularly; and crew training. And, for safety and OSHA compliance, be sure there is a Safety Data Sheet book in your janitors' closet - that matches the labels on the janitor's chemicals.
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