Pandemic Tech: Three Ways to Help Protect Against COVID-19
2021. New year, same pandemic. COVID-19 has dampened New Year’s celebrations, ringing in the new calendar with a host of safety measures and stay-at-home orders. Regardless, the show (i.e. your business) must go on! But how?
These challenging times have forced new and innovative ways of working to the forefront. To help you navigate the glut of options out there, here’s a little guidance on 3 ways technology can help you protect yourself and your staff during the pandemic:
Face-to-Face, but Online Obviously, we have virtual meetings. With social distancing guidelines in place, digital is the obvious way to go with many virtual conference companies offering free trials or extended value plans for groups with a large number of staff. When you consider most if not all of these tools, are available on smartphones and tablets, there is nothing stopping you from holding daily check-ins (and just about every other meeting) online. At Invaware, we use Google Suite to help us reduce our in-person interactions—we recommend it. “Virus-free conferencing” for the win!
Say No to Mutual-Touch Surfaces
We get it, some business simply has to be conducted in person. Essential services have to remain open to preserve life, maintain public safety and basic societal functioning. Yet, even in these situations, there are ways to prevent the spread of COVID. Apart from thorough cleaning, wearing masks, and regular handwashing, electronic documentation offers a critical opportunity to stop your staff from touching the same things. Tools like Narrative and Safe-D eliminate the need to share papers, clipboards, or binders, by allowing staff to access critical information on a smartphone or tablet. Both applications allow for instructions and critical information to be collected, stored, and shared online. Both are incredibly easy to use, and you can get started very quickly. (Click here to get a free 30-day trial of Narrative.)
Introduce Digital Screening
Given that the COVID-19 incubation period ranges from 1 to 14 days* (with a median of 5-6 days), and symptoms don’t appear immediately, it’s important to keep track of your employees’ daily health statuses. Digital COVID-screening questionnaires enable efficient documentation of employees’ well-being and allow for early detection of potential symptoms. Similarly, knowing where infected employees have been is crucial in identifying others who may have been exposed and limiting the spread of the virus. Digital applications like Safe-D can assist in tracking such essential information by providing a virtual platform through which to administer the questionnaire and monitor the results.
Ready to get started? Narrative, our electronic information collection and sharing tool, can help you. Contact us to learn how we can help improve your operations by 40%.
*Data courtesy https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals.html