CONTAINING THE SPREAD
From swine flu to coronavirus, are state’s businesses prepared?
It was an unexpected discovery for CEO David Lewis this week — opening a box in OperationsInc’s new storage room after its move across Norwalk and coming across a stack of face masks, artifacts from the last pandemic scare Connecticut employers experienced a decade ago when swine flu struck.
Purchased out of an abundance of caution, they were never pressed into use at OperationsInc, but other policies were created to protect workers from each other, protocols that may come into play if the coronavirus from China spreads.
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention shipped an initial batch of coronavirus test kits to U. S. medical labs. The Food & Drug Administration has allowed the CDC to bypass normal approval procedures in order to speed the kits into use.
The 11 patients who have tested positive for coronavirus through Wednesday “are doing well,” according to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for
Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
“States will now start testing for confirming this virus, and you may start hearing from states directly about confirmed cases,” Messonnier said Thursday. “This is the beginning of what could be a long response. ... I don’t think that we’ve seen that, right now, there is any sign that this has stopped. I think that it is premature to comment on whether it has slowed down.”
On Friday, CDC said two dozen guests on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship were tested for coronavirus after the vessel docked in Bayonne, N. J., with four family members hospitalized after officials learned they had traveled from China.
In a memo to fellow members of the Connecticut Health Care Coalition of hospitals circulated by Yale- New Haven Health, possible red flags for coronavirus are described as respiratory issues such as coughing coupled with contact with travel over the previous 14 days to the city of Wuhan in China, where the virus was first detected, or contact with anyone diagnosed with coronavirus.
The bulletin instructs any potential patients don a face mask and be placed in a negative pressure isolation room to reduce the odds of airborne transmission. The CDC is working to help hospitals and clinics get protective equipment for any workers who might come across patients who show symptoms.
While two people in Connecticut were tested and cleared, according to CDC and the World Health Organization, coronavirus can be transmitted prior to symptoms being observed. That made for a tense week for communities and employers weighing the need to prepare without overreacting to what remains a
handful of U. S. cases.
‘ Dust off that plan’
In Norwalk, OperationsInc runs training seminars helping businesses handle an array of issues affecting employment policies, including during the swine flu outbreak of 2009 and 2010, and the SARS scare between 2002 and 2004.
“Companies are a little bit more savvy to this, but it’s not like it’s ingrained in them — they don’t necessarily understand what they’re supposed to do with best practices,” Lewis said. “It’s not second nature to say, ‘ Oh, we’ve got another one of these events, so we’re going to go ahead and dust off that last plan.’ A lot of them are still very reactive.”
But he is quick to add that work- from- home arrangements are prevalent at many more organizations today than during the Great Recession and preceding years, whether as a money- saving move or as a perk to aid recruitment.
But the implications extend far beyond Connecticut. Many employers have overseas operations or employees who travel abroad as part of the job. OperationsInc has already had to weigh the issue after an employee recently traveled to South Africa to give presentations to a corporate client. The attendee list included employees traveling from Asia.
“The companies that have people on the road ... how much are you thinking about that and how much are you prepared to get ahead of that issue?” Lewis said. “This has the potential of becoming hugely disruptive. ... It’s now no longer, ‘ Were you in China?’ ”
Shutdowns and force majeure
Many companies that have a physical presence in China are fielding questions about the effect of coronavirus on their business. Disney, for example, has seen an immediate impact on revenue after shutting down two theme parks in China.
A number of Connecticut companies have direct operations in China and Hong Kong that generate significant revenue streams, including industrial gases giant Linde, which has corporate offices in Danbury; and Booking Holdings in Norwalk, whose Agoda. com website focuses on hotels in Asia. Nearly two weeks ago, Agoda offered customers free cancellations on any China reservations, invoking a “force majeure” clause that it informed travel partners allows Agoda not to pay them for the booking.
Subway has more than 500 franchised locations in China. But spokesperson Maggie Truax did not provide specifics this week on any mitigation planning on the part of Subway, whether in support of its China franchisees, at U. S. restaurants or at its Milford headquarters. The company confirmed this week it is cutting 300 corporate jobs under new CEO John Chidsey, who previously led Burger King.
“The health and safety of Subway guests, employees and franchisees is always our top priority,” read a corporate statement provided by Truax. “We are closely monitoring public health advisories from local, regional and global authorities, including the World Health Organization, regarding preventative measures, travel restrictions or other required actions throughout our global organization.”
Others are bracing for a ripple effect, including Dorian LPG, a tanker operator based in Stamford whose vessels travel to China regularly.
“We have a ship discharging in China as we speak,” CEO John Hadjipateras said. “We haven’t seen anything very significant ... about port calls, not yet — but frankly, I’d expect that we would.”