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We’ve started an informal poll of our clients, and most are sticking with their current work exclusions for people with COVID symptoms or those who test positive, at least until these new guidelines have been in effect for a few weeks to see if there are any challenges. There’s certainly some eagerness to reduce the length of work exclusions to maximize staffing, but there are also major business continuity concerns - failing to do any kind of infection control when someone is testing positive or symptomatic means more employees will likely end up missing work due to illness. Everyone is a bit concerned about the practicality of letting people work while knowing they’re COVID positive, especially considering the realities of how people wear masks over a long period of time (they don’t, at least not properly…). We’ll keep an ear to the ground and keep you all informed - and want to hear from you about how you’re thinking about this for your California locations!
Source: ZHH
Here at ZHH, we were thrilled to hear the news out of the FDA yesterday that Emergent BioSolutions, the maker of Narcan, is extending the shelf-life from three years to four. This seriously reduces the cost of stocking the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug for businesses and means it’s more in line with the lifespan of AED batteries. At the time they were introduced, concerns about cost and upkeep were high, but now they’re a standard part of most public spaces. We feel that the future of workplace health will include stocking naloxone as part of a standard first aid kit (perhaps via regulation), and a longer shelf-life makes that much more doable.
Source: FDA
As the virus evolves, it’s actually taking longer for the viral load to build up. As a result, some people aren’t testing positive until their third or fourth day of symptoms. Viral load also corresponds with how contagious someone is, meaning they are most contagious when their viral load is highest. Early in the pandemic, this was peaking on day 1 or 2, which is similar to flu. But with Omicron and its descendants (like the currently dominant JN.1), studies show that viral load is peaking on day 4 or even 5, meaning that’s when a person is most contagious. This calls into question whether a 5-day isolation period is enough to effectively contain the spread of the virus, and whether 5-day antivirals like Paxlovid may need to be taken for longer. Realistically, we don’t see anyone reverting to longer isolation periods, barring any drastic mutations that increase the severity of COVID. In practice, we think this is a good case for continuing to wear a mask for 5 days after ending isolation and staying home until respiratory symptoms like coughing are resolved, which can spread viral particles even farther and make wearing a mask uncomfortable.
Source: Nature