COVID Screening for Your Business: Vital or Pointless?
In many places in the world, life has once again almost returned to normal. In many places, mask mandates have been dropped entirely, while in others, masks are still required in closed spaces: a far cry from the worldwide government mandates to wear a mask every time you leave your home or even if you answer your door to a delivery person. People still wince every time someone in their vicinity coughs, and COVID is still around, with new cases developing at a low rate, but the mass panic has abated for the most part. Health screening is still in place, where travel is required, but we don’t see temperature checks at the entrance to supermarkets anymore. With things as they are and COVID hopefully on the way to becoming less and less of a threat, is COVID screening still essential for you and your business? We think so, and we’ll tell you why.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
During the first two years of the COVID pandemic, almost 15 million more people than usual (natural deaths, crime-related deaths, etc.) have lost their lives. That means countless marriages and families ripped apart, countless lives changed forever. The economies of some of the world’s least wealthy countries have been completely upended, even the more wealthy ones had moments on a knife edge, and some still do. COVID has been one of the most massive crises of our time, and it has irreparably changed the world that we live in; why would we not want to take all steps possible to prevent a return to that state of disaster?
Prevention, as they say, is better than cure. If you continue to screen everyone who enters your business’ physical premises, continue to require regular screenings of all your employees, and ask all vendors to wear masks and sanitise their hands whenever they enter the premises for any reason, you’ll radically minimise your, and any of your staff, chances of catching COVID or passing it on. It’s your duty to yourself, your family, your employees, and their families, to do the most you can to keep them well and healthy. This, in turn, contributes to the overall possibility of preventing any future radical outbreaks. We are global citizens, and we all share the responsibility of keeping ourselves healthy so that we can keep the international community healthy as well.
Productivity
The best way to keep the wheels of your business turning smoothly is to keep everyone involved as healthy as is within your power. If you stop COVID screening, your employees may think to themselves, “Finally, a little more normality is restored!” but in the long run, a lack of COVID protocols may be disastrous for them and for the bottom line of your business. Whatever your business, it relies on you and your staff to keep it running. If one staff member contracts COVID and doesn’t know, you could have an office-wide spread on your hands. This could set you back months and even result in you losing your team members or loved ones. If people are sick, they can’t work, and the productivity of your business will decline.
Save Money
This dovetails nicely with our previous point. Spending a little money on COVID testing and keeping your office space properly clean and sanitised may save you a lot of money in the long run. The cost of shutting down your entire office for commercial sanitization after a COVID outbreak is much higher than what you pay in time and money, keeping employees informed and educated and regular screening for all variants.
If your business is closed or employees are off with COVID, there’s no way you can operate at your peak, and profits will undoubtedly decline. This applies to your employees in their lives as well: if they are off for more than their allotted sick days, you may not be financially able to offer them more paid sick leave. This can be devastating for a family. Be responsible and keep screening for COVID to safeguard the financial future of your business and that of your employees as well.
Wrap Up
These points make a very strong case for continued COVID screening at all enterprises and will help you plan your approach. If you keep up with these basic procedures on a regular basis, you’re doing your part to ensure the health of everyone around you and the world at large.