Hi ZHH community! Are you planning on attending the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago this weekend? We’d love to grab a coffee or a drink and catch up while you’re there!
Email lsweeney@zerohourhealth.com if you’re attending and have time to say hello!
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Masks do work to reduce the risk of spreading and getting the virus that causes COVID, but their impact may be limited. We certainly still recommend them in healthcare settings and increased masking can help reduce the spread during an outbreak situation. On a day-to-day basis, though, the impact of masking may be relatively limited for personal protection. All of the studies on the benefits of masking have major limitations, most of which are related to the fact that humans behave inconsistently, even when they’re part of a study. In real-world situations, we see that masks do reduce the risk of COVID transmission, but perhaps not as strongly as we had once hoped. There’s still a time and place for when they can help reduce transmission, like crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation in areas with high community transmission.
Yes, we have a few clients who have made that exact interim decision - not to stock Narcan everywhere just yet, but to make strategic or targeted decisions about where to have it on hand, at least for now. One client recently told us that it’s been used twice in a specific location that regularly hires employees through a successful partnership with a local treatment facility (both times for employees). They keep it on hand at that location, where they can expect a higher likelihood of employee overdoses. But it’s not just specific programs for people in recovery - the restaurant industry has among the highest rates of drug and alcohol use disorder compared to nearly all other industries, so even if you’re holding off on making policies around how to use it for the public, it’s an interesting idea to consider your policies about having it on hand for your own employees. As always, consult with your legal team and ensure proper training if you do decide to keep naloxone at your business.
Even though the majority of Americans are moving on, the emergency declaration is over, and most restrictions are long gone, there are still millions of people who are immunocompromised who are still at much greater risk if they contract COVID. Their conditions mean they face much more serious health risks than the average person if they contract COVID. Even though COVID is more common, it’s still much deadlier than the flu. Talk to your legal and HR teams about individual employee accommodations, but from a clinical perspective, the threat for immunocompromised people is, unfortunately, still very real.
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