The Delta variety of Covid could easily have been called Covid-20 or Covid-2021. There are likely to be new variants.
Now would seem a good time to be thinking about how this disease is going to affect your business into the future and what you’re going to do about it, if anything.
Australia has announced it’s going to open up to the world. Do you think, once our vaccination level reaches a certain figure, we will follow suit? This will mean the disease is with us permanently.
One’s thoughts turn firstly to the hospitality industry. This is where customers take off their masks. A café or restaurant owner is going to need to decide on a Covid policy.
Are they going to allow unvaccinated people into the shop? If they do, are they going to lose business if many customers want to go to shops that refuse admission to unvaccinated customers? What about their staff picking up the disease through work?
What about masks? The World Health Organisation says they should comprise three layers:
absorbent in a layer
non-woven, non-absorbent middle layer such as polypropylene
outer layer of non-absorbent material such as polyester.
Will you need to think about hygiene in relation to the masks your staff are wearing? How much protection are people going to be getting from their masks if they keep recycling them without washing them? Will you need to educate your staff? Would it be good business to offer a supply of better quality disposable masks than the basic blue ones? How well do the masks fit?
If you’re going to want to see vaccination passports, assuming we have them here, how are you going to organise this? What is a staff member going to do if someone who is not vaccinated enters the business and becomes difficult?
Vaccinations don’t last forever. They need to be topped up. If you’re vaccinated in June 2021, how immune are you likely to be from getting the disease in June 2022?
If you’re going to check vaccination certificates, are you also going to have to check the dates on them?
What about your employment contracts? What are you going to have to include in them? What if a staff member has been vaccinated but doesn’t get a top-up within a reasonable time? Do you need to conduct a risk assessment for your business, especially if any employees are immune compromised?