PREPAREDNESS FOR BUSINESSES AND HOMES
SOCIAL DISTANCING
14.1 Another strategy to protect staff is minimising their contact with others. Crowded places and large gatherings of people should be avoided, whether in internal or external spaces.
14.2 A distance of at least one metre should be maintained between persons wherever practical. Larger distances are more effective.
14.3 Visiting of, or other contact with, unwell people should be avoided wherever practicable.
14.4 Avoid meeting people face to face - use the telephone, video conferencing and the internet to conduct business as much as possible - even when participants are in the same building.
14.5 Avoid handshaking and any other greeting which involves person to person contact.
14.6 Avoid any unnecessary travel and cancel or postpone non-essential meetings / gatherings / workshops / training sessions.
14.7 If possible, arrange for employees to work from home or work variable hours to avoid crowding at the workplace.
14.8 Practice "ghost" shift changes wherever possible, with the shift going off duty leaving the workplace before the new shift enters. If possible, leave an interval before re-occupation of the workplace. If possible, thoroughly ventilate the workplace between shifts by opening doors and windows or turning up the air-conditioning.
14.9 Avoid public transport: walk, cycle, drive a car or go early or late to avoid rush hour crowding on public transport
14.10 Bring lunch and eat at desk or away from others (avoid the cafeteria and crowded restaurants). Introduce staggered lunchtimes so numbers of people in the lunch room are reduced.
14.11 Do not congregate in tearooms or other areas where people socialise. Do what needs to be done and then leave the area.
14.12 If a face-to-face meeting with people is unavoidable, minimise the meeting time, choose a large meeting room and sit at least one meter away from each other if possible; avoid shaking hands or hugging. Consider holding meetings in the open air.
14.13 Set up systems where clients / customers can pre-order / request information via phone / email / fax and have order / information ready for fast pick-up or delivery.
14.14 Encourage staff to avoid recreational or other leisure classes / meetings etc. where they might come into contact with infectious people.
14.15 If the company does not utilise business internet banking, set it up and begin the migration immediately.
14.16 Encourage staff to apply for and use personal internet banking. This will allow them to avoid making unnecessary trips to the bank.
14.17 Try using conference calling equipment instead of face to face meetings. Get people comfortable with using it now and they'll be 'ready trained' when the need to make conference calls instead of meeting becomes serious.
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| 05/15/2008 04:00 PM |
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Rapid detection of infectious disease outbreaks is often crucial for their effective control. One example is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) such as H5N1 in commercial poultry flocks. There is no quantitative data, however, on how quickly the effects of HPAI infection in poultry flocks can be detected. Here, we study, using an individual-based mathematical model, time to detection in chicken flocks.
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| Identification Of The Common Mechanism Underlying Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome May Lead To New Strategies Against Bird Flu |
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| 04/18/2008 06:00 PM |
| New Vaccine May Give Long-term Defense Against Deadly Bird Flu And Its Variant Forms |
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A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.
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