At the end of last week’s Advisory I let slip a couple of paragraphs that expressed my frustration. States were taking action with no consistent plans for re-opening to protect as many people and businesses as possible.
Thankfully, over the past week, a lot has happened. Plans for re-opening have emerged from states, industries and even the federal government.
Of course, plans change. You have probably heard this oft-repeated quote from 19th century Prussian military leader Helmuth von Moltke:
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
Still, while plans change, at least we can turn to them to give us some framework by which to operate. Here are some resources that I believe are worth taking a look at.
State plans for re-opening vary.
- Wild West. Go for it. This is America. (You can stop reading here.)
- Phased plans based on standards:
- California’s Resilience Roadmap https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap/
- Phased plans based on perceived risk (certain businesses first, others later)
Click here to find your state’s current plan.
Industry plans address the working environment.
Many organizations and in particular, professional industry groups, have provided guidelines for their customers and members. Their guidelines are mostly focused on hygiene and designing safer working environments.
- General business: From one of the most consistently useful and practical overview resources for emergency preparedness and response: https://www.agilityrecovery.com/covid-19-return-to-work-guidance-for-businesses
- Nursing homes ; VERY detailed suggestions for how to (re-) design nursing homes for increased safety and security: https://www.bdcnetwork.com/covid-19nursinghomedeaths
- Gyms, Salons, Retail, Restaurant and Rides. Detailed guidelines for different commercial settings from the American Industrial Health Association. It includes downloadable reports for At-Home Service Providers, Construction Industry, General Office, Gyms and Workout, and Nail and Hair Salons, Retail, Restaurant and Ride-share/Taxi. https://www.backtoworksafely.org/
- Airlines, Dentistry, Custodial, and 12 more . . .Scroll to the very bottom of this page at the OSHA site to see if your workplace is on their list. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/controlprevention.html
- Schools: A simplified 1-page flowchart was released yesterday by the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/Schools-Decision-Tree.pdf
Resources to help you make your own plans.
Potential job: From Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health comes a 5-hour course giving participants the key skills for COVID-19 Contact Tracing. This course starts today (May 14) and is FREE. https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing
Social distance marking: If you need to set up visual guides to help customers with social distancing, consider floor marking tape. (Download the Floor Marking Best Practices booklet there, too.) https://www.graphicproducts.com/blog/floor-marking-helps-maintain-safe-distances/
Managing stress: The American Red Cross is offering a free online class: Psychological First Aid: Supporting Yourself and Others During COVID-19. I completed it earlier this week. Useful review, great pictures to support all the text. Start here: https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/online-safety-classes
Your family’s plan for re-opening.
As “suggestions” and “requirements” change over the next few weeks, you’ll want to discuss your own family’s “rules.” I’m sure they will include topics like going out, using face masks, social distancing, etc. You’ll probably be faced with questions like:
- “Why are we doing this?”
- “Why are we doing it when others aren’t?”
- “What should we do when others don’t follow the rules?”
These are perilous and difficult times, and they require new and sometimes uncomfortable behavior. Learning new information, making decisions and taking action are important to being prepared.
As always, my very best wishes in this effort. I include myself in this effort, because we are all in it together!
Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team
P.S. I’m sure you have found many useful resources, too. Don’t hesitate to share. This will be an ongoing effort.
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