The year 2020 came and went like bad dream. Some of us thought we had survived the worst of it. Sadly, following a planning meeting, the Founder of this website contracted the ubiquitous COVID 19. This was despite practicing all the techniques on covid prevention that were aptly practiced in the year to forget.
But, as it the virus had a brain of its own, the second wave that has hit Zambia has been more merciless than the first one. What was unfortunate for many who contracted it was that it spread during a period when many families were coming together to celebrate their unions. Many of these people had been on industrial break for the Christmas and New year holidays. COVID saw its window of opportunity and struck.
Unfortunately, for many companies, the COVID protocols developed applied during the first wave were believed to be efficient even during the second wave. However, the virus had used the one period that everyone should have had had the guards on high alert to nestle in new hosts only to present itself in the workplace.
The second wave has brought the issue of mandatory testing to the fore. It is clear that absence from the office signals a high probability of an infected employee returning into the office. The office health and safety procedures must be revisited to incorporate the uncomfortable regular testing. Measuring temperature and hand sanitizing just won’t cut it during the second wave.
The aviation industry has taken the lead in mandatory regular testing. One can not simply fly from country A to country B with out a certified negative COVID 19 test result. This has led to a semblance of safety for air travel which was seen as the crucible of the transmission of the pandemic.
With the vaccine on the horizon, CEOs and their management teams must review their strategies of ensuring a heathy workforce in challenging economic times. As difficult as it may be, the line item “COVID Measures” will be present in many income statements. The second wave demands for a smarter approach of protecting the workforce to ensure that business has a fighting chance in 2021.