Coronavirus at the Workplace: Were U.S. Employers Prepared?

This article was written in March 2020, during the early spread of the coronavirus disease known as COVID-19, when U.S. employers were taking precautions to protect their employees. It covers the origin of the disease, the situation in the U.S. at that time, and the steps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended employers take to prevent its spread at work.

At the time of writing, the disease had claimed more than 8900 lives worldwide, and the CDC had released interim guidance that U.S. employers could follow to protect their workforce.

Where did the coronavirus come from?

COVID-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Early cases were linked to a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China, the first epicenter of the outbreak. The virus is believed to have come from bats and spread from animals to humans.

SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. Wuhan recorded many early animal-to-human cases, followed by human-to-human spread.

What was the situation in the U.S. in March 2020?

From China, the disease spread to many countries around the world. The U.S. government and the CDC were taking preventive measures to stop it spreading across the country.

At the time of writing, the U.S. had more than 1000 confirmed cases and 31 recorded deaths, and the numbers were still growing. Most people who had tested positive had either traveled to affected countries or caught the virus through person-to-person spread.

How did the outbreak affect businesses?

Retailers, restaurants, multinational companies, and the travel and tourism industry saw steep falls in revenue and serious supply chain disruption beginning in December 2019. Many businesses put investment plans on hold, even those that had been barely affected, because the outlook was so uncertain.

Multinationals with large operations in China were closing major offices there and in Italy. Well-known companies such as Honeywell, Apple, Microsoft, Google and General Electric introduced policies to keep their employees safe and encouraged them to use the healthcare benefits the companies provided. Some also adopted work-from-home policies to protect staff.

What preventive measures did the CDC recommend for employers?

The CDC’s interim guidance for businesses and employers asked them to put a plan in place that would help both employees and the organization through the outbreak. Its recommendations included:

• telling sick employees to stay home and away from the workplace;
• encouraging hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes;
• wearing masks in public places;
• regularly cleaning commonly touched surfaces and objects.

Health officials around the world also urged employers to review business policies on travel, testing, supply chains and insurance coverage. Suggested steps included restricting work travel to countries with severe outbreaks, reducing or pausing imports and exports, and holding official meetings virtually.

Looking back

These were the precautions employers were advised to take in the first weeks of the outbreak to slow the spread of the virus. The situation has changed a great deal since then: the U.S. federal COVID-19 public health emergency ended on May 11, 2023. Employers looking for current workplace guidance on respiratory illnesses should check the CDC’s latest recommendations.