Thorough Wellness Checks Prove Beneficial

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As businesses gradually begin to bring back workers, Wellness Screening of all employees, visitors, and other personnel upon arrival at your facility continues to be of utmost importance. In fact, through its continuing COVID-19 client support, TAG has found that businesses implementing thorough Wellness Screenings are doing well at containing spread. Recently, one facility sent home seven workers in a single day because of coronavirus symptoms detected during the screening. While this number may seem high, it is also significant when considering how easily infection can spread between individuals; by identifying potentially infected individuals, the Wellness Screening allowed the business to protect its workforce.

 

Wellness Screenings apply to everyone, including office personnel. Screenings should be implemented in the corporate office for your administrative, management teams, and for any visitors. While office employees are often more likely to be six feet apart than employees in manufacturing settings, it is still critical to keep those with any symptoms out of the office.

 

The Wellness Check should include questions on any symptoms the person may have experienced in the last 24 hours. If the person answers “yes” to any symptom listed, they should be sent home and asked to call their healthcare provider.

 

Primary symptoms or any one of the below:

• Fever (CDC defines fever as 100.4°F while the WHO defines fever as 37.3°C [99.1°F])

• Cough

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

• Chills, including repeated shaking with chills

• New anosmia (loss of smell or taste)

• Diarrhea – while this can be a secondary symptom of COVID-19, those with diarrhea should always be excluded from food facilities 

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Secondary symptoms or two or more of the below:

• Headache

• Muscle pain

• Tiredness or fatigue

• Sore throat

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Oxygen (O2) levels below 90% (measured with a medical grade oximeter that is disinfected between uses)