2019nCoV - Ten Things To Do Right Now!
Regina Phelps
Respect Science - Respect Nature - Respect Each Other. Crisis Management, Exercise Design, Pandemic & Resiliency Planning. Thought Leader, Consultant, Author & Speaker
#2019nCoV continues to spread from China and now many disease experts are increasingly thinking that it could become a #pandemic that circumnavigates the globe. The prospect is daunting. The good news is that although the disease is spreading, it is still primarily in China and the fatality rate remains low – about 2% (much better than #SARS 9% or #MERS 34%).
A pandemic — an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents — will certainly have consequences to the global economy and cause major disruptions to supply chains. What does your company use that comes from China? You need to know that quickly as whatever it might be could soon be in short supply. The next question would be do you have alternate suppliers?
So, keeping all of that in mind, how is your 2019nCoV planning going? I hope you are doing these ten things right now:
1. Working on your Infectious Disease & Pandemic Plan – don't have one? Get one!
2. Developing regular SitStat reports for your Crisis Management and Executive Team.
3. Assessing impact to the company supply chains.
4. Communicating with your key stakeholders about your plans and status.
5. Educating employees on smart health habits (hopefully you were doing this for flu season anyway) such as hand washing, cough hygiene and staying home while sick.
6. Marketing the importance of your company emergency notification system (ENS) to get out timely information to employees and while you are at it, evaluating the contact information in the ENS for accurate employee data.
7. Review your BIA and BCPs through the lens of an infectious disease. These should be closely aligned with your Infectious Disease & Pandemic Plan
8. Check in with all critical third-party vendors – what is going on with them?
9. Inventory your personal protective equipment (PPE) – masks, gloves, hand sanitizers and first aid supplies
10. Increase your information security screening – scammers and hackers are using this virus outbreak to build off of peoples anxieties. There are fake websites, phishing emails with links for “more information” on 2019nCoV and hoaxes. Be on the alert.
This is just a few of the things that you should be doing…all of this should be in your Infectious Disease & Pandemic Plan.
Need help? Check out our website www.ems-solutionsinc.com for planning resources
Respect Science - Respect Nature - Respect Each Other. Crisis Management, Exercise Design, Pandemic & Resiliency Planning. Thought Leader, Consultant, Author & Speaker
4 年Thanks to all for your comments...the more we can all be prepared, the better off we will all be - our friends, families, businesses and our communities...pass the information on so we can all be more resilient.
Helping Clients Achieve Organizational Agility, Resiliency and Sustainability using Technology
4 年Great checklist
Resilience & Crisis Management ?? Senior Advisor | Speaker | Coach | Educator
4 年I agree, good content. Thanks for sharing Regina Phelps. The points you bring up are crucial and important to businesses all around the world.
Business Resilience Consultant @ Air New Zealand | Crisis Management, Resilience
4 年Great content thanks for sharing.