Every time you think it’s safe to make plans and leave Covid behind, another variant emerges to ruin your efforts.
This time it is variant VA.5, a sub-variant of Omicron and the most infectious version of the virus to date. The strain re-infects people who have already encountered the previous variants once or even twice. While hospitalizations are much lower than during the peak of the Omicron winter wave, hospitalizations have nearly doubled since May, and more than 400 Americans die every day.
So it’s not surprising that some employers may be delaying their return to office plans again. But before you do, consider a few things first.
Consider that a lot of people still think pandemic restrictions would be a good idea.
A majority of adults, six in 10, according to a March survey by researcher Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a nonprofit health policy researcher, think the worst of the pandemic is over. However, people still disagree about what a return to normalcy should look like and when it should happen. So it’s not surprising that your employees may have different opinions about what a return to work should look like.
Most adults are also concerned that lifting some pandemic restrictions could leave immunocompromised people behind because of their increased risk of getting sick. And about half of those surveyed are concerned that loosening restrictions could lead to more deaths in their community, or that they personally would not be able to get the medical care they need because local hospitals might be overwhelmed.
Most cities are unlikely to be able to regain the masking powers or other protective measures previously used to deal with the pandemic, so it is up to employers to keep workers safe. This means that employers must again take into account the office or work environment, including ventilation, vaccination rates, transmission to the community, and hospitalization.
Be aware of local transmission rates.
It is likely that the virus will appear in hot spots with local transmission rates over time. Significant transmission is defined as 50 to 100,000 cases per 100,000, or a positive transmission rate of 8 to 10 percent. High transmission is defined as 100 or more cases per 100,000 or a positive transmission rate of 10 percent or higher. Therefore, it is very important that you know if your business is in the hot spot.
