After nearly a full year of combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, relief feels close at hand in the form of the long-awaited vaccines.
And with the country all but clamoring to return to normal, it makes sense that, once properly immunized with both vaccine doses, people will likely resume both work and play in much the way they did during their pre-pandemic days.
However, with employees and customers of your own to keep safe, you can never be too cautious. Thus, you may be wondering: Is my business safe now that the COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed?
Following the Crowd
The first thing to note is that, if not everyone in your workplace is immunized against COVID-19, there will be no guarantee that your office will be a safe haven from the virus.
For example, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is not yet sure what percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve overall herd immunity, and your place of business may function as a sort of microcosm of its own in that regard.
In short, if some colleagues decide against vaccination, they may still be putting others at risk, regardless of whether those other individuals have been vaccinated or not. Additionally, if you are a business owner of a retail or restaurant establishment, you may also have to take vulnerable or unvaccinated customers into consideration.
Relying on Research
Did you know that health officials have yet to determine how long the vaccine will protect an individual for?
That is to say, even if the vaccine were to protect your workspace right off the bat, the possibility that certain precautions (such as masks and social distancing) would need to be reintroduced later down the line may still remain.
“It’s too early to know if COVID-19 vaccines will provide long-term protection,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Additional research is needed to answer this question. However, it’s encouraging that available data suggest that most people who recover from COVID-19 develop an immune response that provides at least some period of protection against reinfection.”
In all, it’s best to remain optimistically cautious.
The Bigger Picture
Finally, with both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at an approximate efficacy of 95%, there does still remain a sliver of a chance that vaccinated individuals may still be at risk for contracting the virus, particularly if they are living with a chronic health condition.
“In the US, six in ten adults are living with at least one chronic health condition, and for them, the 2020-2021 influenza season poses an unprecedented dual-threat,” the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) has reported in reference to both COVID-19 and annual influenza spread.
Thus, to better ensure the safety of one’s workplace, we recommend that you increase your ventilation, install a HEPA filter, regularly sanitize, and take other precautionary measures in terms of your general indoor air quality, as these may all serve to cut down on the airborne transmission of the virus.
That being said, as COVID-19 is primarily an airborne transmitted virus, another critical and attainable step you can take is to optimize your indoor air quality.
The most accurate way to measure and assess indoor air quality for airborne viruses and bacteria is with InstaScope.
While InstaScope does not specifically identify COVID-19 particles, it does use biofluorescent technology to measure the total airborne microbiological particles in the air that may contain coronavirus as well as other viruses, mold, bacteria, and pollen. Thus, InstaScope is the solution to assessing indoor air quality, verifying lowered levels of bio counts in the air, and informing solutions that will reduce human exposure to airborne viruses. User-friendly and capable of sampling numerous rooms an unlimited number of times, this state-of-the-art equipment will help you better ensure the long-term safety of your commercial property.
To learn more about the InstaScope and implement it in your strategy to combat COVID-19, contact DetectionTek today by calling 720-410-7030 or emailing info@instascope.co!
