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If an employee reports or tests positive for measles, act quickly. First, send the employee home immediately if they're at work, along with anyone who lives with or dates them. Clients should notify Zero Hour Health through the app, so our clinical team can help verify lab results, since employees often hear the word and panic, without a true diagnosis.
Next, expect contact with your local health department. Their requests vary: some will want vaccination records for all exposed employees, others may just ask to be notified if anyone else becomes sick. Some health departments also require a 21-day exclusion period for employees who can’t show proof of immunity. Be prepared to provide employee timeclock records and contact information, and consult with your crisis team before releasing any guest data.
Finally, manage communication and operations. Share ZHH’s measles talking points and Q&A with staff, and remind managers to stay calm and factual. Daily wellness checks for three weeks can help spot symptoms early, since measles often looks like a bad cold before the rash appears. Sanitize common surfaces, review your media policy so only authorized spokespeople comment, and loop in PR if the health department goes public. Once cleared by their doctor or the health department, the employee can return to work once they’re symptom-free for at least 24 hours.
The good news is that most of your staff and guests are well protected through vaccination, and we’re not seeing huge public reactions to measles cases, even when they’re reported in the local news. For a much more detailed, step-by-step action plan for a measles-positive employee, clients can check the ZHH App.
Most states (and federal Food Code) recommend that at least one person on duty be trained in food allergies, but there’s something to be said for training more of your team than strictly required.
One scientific study found that one in three people with food allergies report having a reaction in a restaurant. Nearly 27 million adults have food allergies in the U.S., which means that this is not an “if,” but a “when.”
Two CDC studies looked into allergies at restaurants and found that more than half of the staff they interviewed had never actually been trained on allergies.
Recently, California became the first state to require major allergen declarations on menus for all restaurants with 20+ locations. Other states and cities have their own regulations, many of which are changing.
Staff turnover is high, so we understand that the best way to make sure that more employees are getting appropriate allergen training is to build it into their new employee onboarding, and then into regular food safety training updates. Much of what works for food allergies works for foodborne illness, too. Preventing cross contamination is the name of the game.
So, unless you’re required by law, we’re not sure you need to invest in an allergen training mid-cycle, but as you think about your onboarding experience and training programs in general, we think now is a great time to get ahead of this and build food allergen training into your standard practice, if you haven’t already.
As we approach flu season, we liked this NYT article about old sayings around sickness. While there’s not much real research on the topic, we think you can safely have dinner when you have a fever…