September 8
CEO Blog: H1N1 may keep employees home but I’m already thinking about how to help our customers
I never get sick. I haven’t had the flu in over 20 years. But it’s clear to me that a lot of people are worried about H1N1 or the swine flu. Apparently, we know how to make the vaccine, but the problem is that the incubation time is very slow, so only the highest risks groups will get the vaccine when the flu season starts. By the time it’s in full swing, there really will not be enough vaccine to go around.
According to the CDC, “…the 2009 H1N1 influenza viruses and regular seasonal influenza may spread at the same time. It’s possible that a lot more people will get sick this season than normally occurs during a regular flu season. There also may be more people hospitalized and more deaths this season than during a normal flu season.”
Now, I’m started to get a lot more worried. School kids and college kids cram into classrooms and they can’t wash their hands often enough to keep the virus at bay. As a business owner, I know these kids come home and spread the virus to their moms and dads who then go to work with a few aches and pains and spread the virus in the office. We just had a mom who had strep throat who got it from her daughter. I’m holding my breath that the rest of the office doesn’t catch it. It takes 24 hours to become non-contagious from strep……it takes about a week or more with swine flue.
We have the potential for a lot of people to have to stay home from work. Parents need to take care of their kids and they better figure out that they need to take care of themselves. I don’t think the economy can take another blow, especially from a flu bug.
We’re thinking through how to help our customers that use us for audio conferencing and webinars to make sure they can still do business, even though employees are sidelined. Seems simple enough, right? You need to do a meeting, do it virtually so people don’t sneeze on each other and pass the H1N1 virus around. I’m going to give some more thought to how to help people think this out before it becomes a bigger problem than it needs to be.
