Planning for a Possible 2019-nCoV Outbreak in the US

Planning for a Possible 2019-nCoV Outbreak in the US

The severity of illness or how many people will fall ill from 2019-nCoV is unknown at this time. If there is evidence of a 2019-nCoV outbreak in the U.S., employers should plan to be able to respond in a flexible way to varying levels of severity and be prepared to refine their business response plans as needed. For the general American public, such as workers in non-healthcare settings and where it is unlikely that work tasks create an increased risk of exposures to 2019-nCoV, the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV is considered low. The CDC and its partners will continue to monitor national and international data on the severity of illness caused by 2019-nCoV, will disseminate the results of these ongoing surveillance assessments, and will make additional recommendations as needed.

Planning Considerations

All employers need to consider how best to decrease the spread of acute respiratory illness and lower the impact of 2019-nCoV in their workplace in the event of an outbreak in the US. They should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b) protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications, (c) maintaining business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains. Some of the key considerations when making decisions on appropriate responses are:

• Disease severity (i.e., number of people who are sick, hospitalization and death rates) in the community where the business is located;
• Impact of disease on employees that are vulnerable and may be at higher risk for 2019-nCoV adverse health complications. Inform employees that some people may be at higher risk for severe illness, such as older adults and those with chronic medical conditions.
• Prepare for possible increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members, dismissals of early childhood programs and K-12 schools due to high levels of absenteeism or illness:
• Employers should plan to monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace. Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
• Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
• Assess your essential functions and the reliance that others and the community have on your services or products. Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g., identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).
• Employers with more than one business location are encouraged to provide local managers with the authority to take appropriate actions outlined in their business infectious disease outbreak response plan based on the condition in each locality.
• Coordination with stateexternal icon and localexternal icon health officials is strongly encouraged for all businesses so that timely and accurate information can guide appropriate responses in each location where their operations reside. Since the intensity of an outbreak may differ according to geographic location, local health officials will be issuing guidance specific to their communities.