Health News:

• The average employer-sponsored health insurance premium rose 7% to $24,000 per year. (Bloomberg)
• A Canadian worker at two different Edmonton airport restaurants worked while sick with Hep A starting in early October. (Edmonton Journal)
• Paxlovid will cost $1,390 for a five-day course of pills but should be covered by most health insurance policies, and insurers will pay far less than that. (WSJ)
• Yakima County, WA, is reporting a shigella outbreak with 72 cases (compared to 10 last year), and no source yet identified. (NBC Now)
• A new antiviral pill may help prevent loss of taste and smell with COVID. (Nature)
• A bill before Congress seeks to create OSHA guidance on opioid-reversal kits for employers and the federal government. (Rep. Watson Coleman)
• The risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome is 6x higher after having COVID, and lower than baseline after getting the vaccine. (CIDRAP)
• Rite Aid will close 154 stores which may affect where patients get their prescriptions. (NY Times)
• A winter 2020-21 outbreak of Salmonella, with a majority of cases on the west coast, has been linked to contact with dead wild songbirds. (CIDRAP)
• Viral load is highest on Day 4 with Omicron versus Day 1 with earlier variants, which impacts rapid testing - and why you should wait a few days to test. (MedPage Today) 
• Leishmania mexicana, a flesh-eating parasite spread through sand flies, is now likely spreading locally in the southern US. (CBS)
• H. pylori, a common bacteria found in 1 in 3 Americans’ stomachs, can lead to cancer. (The Atlantic)

Mental Health & Substance Use News: 

• The mental health crisis for doctors is a growing problem for their patients. (Vox)
• As teen overdoses rise, some colleges are distributing naloxone and fentanyl test strips. (NPR)
• Genetics may play a part in someone’s risk of attempting suicide. (Fox)
• Sleeping less is associated with symptoms of depression. (Washington Post)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. 

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Best Questions:

We have an employee who keeps going to the ER with excessive vomiting due to cannabis use. Do they have to be excluded from work if we know it’s not contagious? 

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is a rare condition that occurs in daily, long-term users of marijuana and results in repeated and severe bouts of vomiting. While it’s not contagious, it’s often so severe that people seek emergency medical attention, so it’s not likely that the employee will be able to work through those symptoms. If your employee is regularly unable to work due to this condition, which stops when people stop using marijuana, it might be time to consult your HR and legal teams, as your workplace drug and alcohol and absence policies may come into play. 

Source: Cedars-Sinai

An employee reports years of GI symptoms without a diagnosis.  Can we ask for a doctor’s note?

Yes, especially if they work in a food service setting. Some people have non-infectious conditions that cause them to have regular vomiting or diarrhea, and with the same proper hand hygiene required of all employees can safely work in any business, even food handling. But employees themselves aren’t able to make that call - they need a medical professional to see them and review their symptoms. Specifically, we recommend requiring a note that clears them to work in a foodservice setting, if applicable for their role, since that prompts doctors to take a closer look at any GI symptoms before signing off on a note. 

Source: ZHH

What’s up with all these county fairs and outbreaks?  Should we advise employees to avoid them?

There have been repeated instances of human illness after contact with animals at agricultural fairs. Everything from bird flu, swine flu, and E. coli have been passed from animals to humans at county fairs and petting zoos in the US, with so many cases in Tennessee right now that it’s hard to keep the different outbreaks straight. Employees don’t need to skip the fair, but they do need to take extra precautions. Wash your hands immediately after touching farm animals or anything in their exhibit; don’t eat or drink in the animal exhibits (save it for outside); leave your kids’ strollers and toys outside and keep a close eye on kids near the animals to stop little hands from going straight to their mouths - and be sure to wash their hands immediately after, too. With those basic measures, your employees should be set to enjoy the fair safely!

Source: CDC, NY Times

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Best Read:

We found this an interesting read, though in our experience, fewer people may actually be abusing sick days. This issue is doubly complicated in the restaurant industry, where employees working sick cause nearly half of all foodborne illness outbreaks.

Bosses have a problem - people are actually using sick days - WSJ

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