Reduce the Risk to You and Your People of Becoming Ill from COVID-19

Although winter is coming to a close in the Northern Hemisphere, the influenza (aka the 'flu') season has not yet passed. It's important to understand the best ways to prevent yourself from getting the flu, as well as the latest pandemic, COVID-19. 

The control and prevention strategies are the same for both illnesses, given the similarities between the seasonal influenza virus’ and the COVID-19 virus and how they spread.

With the COVID-19 pandemic rising, and the influenza season not yet done, employers are looking for best practices to keep their people healthy. Unfortunately, stockpiling toilet paper may not be the answer to protecting you and your people from getting sick. One of the best things you can do to prepare for any new virus, influenza or pandemic is to boost your immune system and partake in healthy, preventive behaviors.

Please keep in mind that currently, the COVID-19 virus is 20 to 30 times more deadly than the seasonal influenzas when measured by mortality rate, which is cause for great concern among the population and community leaders. From a workplace health perspective, people over 80 years of age, and those with underlying health conditions are the most at-risk to develop severe cases of COVID-19 and seasonal influenzas, and these people are generally not in the workforce. From an employer’s perspective, the cost of absenteeism, presenteeism and lost productivity for people and those providing care to family members, even due to a mild case, can have a real impact on a company’s bottom-line.

How Can You Reduce Your Risk of Getting the COVID-19 and the Flu?

• Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds very often throughout the day - particularly after using the restroom eating and blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, shaking hands, and touching objects in public and your environment where sick people may have been. A good tip is to sing the song 'happy birthday' while washing, which will take you about that amount of time. 
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers (at least 60%) and wipes can also be used with appropriate concentrations.
• Cover your cough and sneeze, either into a tissue and dispose of it, or into your sleeve if no tissues are available, never your hands. ‘Cover your cough’ campaigns work!
• Keep your hands out of your eyes, nose, and mouth, and try to adopt a ‘don’t touch your face’ philosophy where practicable. It's totally acceptable to wear your sunglasses at night so long as it keeps you from rubbing your eyes!
• A lot of viruses are spread through saliva droplets when people talk, cough, or sneeze, so try to keep at least 1m (3ft) away from others, particularly those who may be sick.
• Clean your environment, particularly frequently touched objects or surfaces with an agent that kills the virus, the virus can remain intact for hours to days on objects you may use every day.
• Understand your company's work-from-home or sick leave policies so if you are unwell or develop any flu-like symptoms you can isolate yourself from spreading germs to others. 

What Else Can You do to Prevent Your Employees From Getting COVID-19 and the Flu?

Digital solutions that are available to employers from CoreHealth and our customers, which include behavior change challenges and experiences targeted at risk reduction are a great place to start.

CoreHealth's wellness challenges are a key part of our well-being technology to provide you with engagement and gamification tools that work, and reinforce positive behaviors that can help prevent COVID-19 and the flu, as well as the common cold. Our challenges include physical activity, nutrition, weight and stress management, and other aspects of wellness. Our Beat the Flu challenge is designed to help encourage healthy behaviors to become an everyday routine to focus on prevention. 

How Does the Beat the Flu Challenge Work?

1. Register for your company challenge and create a personal profile.
2. Log in daily to track your healthy activity.
3. Have fun watching your real-time progress in the 'My Progress' box and compete against your personal goals, or others!
   
   

The Beat the Flu challenge focuses on healthy activities such as: 

• Washing your Hands
• Tracking Sleep
• Daily Exercise
• Vitamin C Intake
• Avoiding Sugary Foods
• and many more! 

Are You Interested in More Healthy Activities?

With over 30+ challenges, choose and tailor challenges to your company's unique culture, demographics, and location. CoreHealth's challenges offer a variety of activities for you and your employees to partake in healthy activities.

Information Provided by: Dr. Tyler Amell and Dr. Doug Stevens