****Bee-Clean Novel Coronavirus Bulletin – January 22, 2020****
As of today, January 22, 2020, the WHO has not declared a public health emergency1 related to the recently identified Novel Coronavirus (nCoV). Currently, the WHO phase is phase 2, Alert and this phase is currently unrelated to the nCoV (please see Bee-Clean’s Pandemic Risk Management Document for additional information regarding pandemic phases). As of today, the virus has been confirmed in China, numerous Asian countries and in the United States (map below2). Heightened global travel during Chinese New Year has increased the risk of rapid distribution of the virus and potential illness.
As the lead-in and preparation for a potential pandemic evolves, Bee-Clean continues with steps to ensure that our employees and our clients are safe, adequately informed and prepared for the current phase and those to follow. We have engaged our supply chain partners to confirm they are prepared with adequate inventories of sanitizing materials. nCoV is an enveloped virus (similar to H1N1) and at this time, it appears surfactant-containing cleaning agents will be sufficient to mitigate the chain of transmission3.
Critical points for reiteration are personal hygiene standards (consistent and regular hand washing), sneeze and cough etiquette (into sleeve) and proper use of the products supplied for viral containment. It is also essential that our employees continue to be aware of their own health and the health of their peers.
As outlined in our Pandemic Risk Management Document, our first planning step for a possible pandemic is to identify a Pandemic Coordinator. For nCoV 2019, that coordinator is Rob Scott. Each Bee-Clean office across Canada will be asked to designate a lead for internal and external communications to aid in the distribution of information and protocols.
We will continue to update our internal teams and external stakeholders as the situation evolves.
1: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus
2: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/images/outbreak-coronavirus-world.png
3: https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1264834/retrieve