Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce and Business Community Urge COVID-19 Best Practices

The Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) Interim President and CEO, Stan Lockhart, issued the following statement on behalf of the Chamber, calling upon businesses to utilize COVID-19 best practices that begin with social distancing or staying six feet away from other people:
 
“The Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce’s goal is to help keep every business open during the pandemic. Our economy remaining open and best practice protocols are inseparably connected. We are concerned for the health and safety of Utahns and believe that our businesses and people are best served when they follow these protocols. We recognize our responsibility as a business community and encourage the use of these commonsense measures. We call upon all businesses and individuals to use these best practices until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.”
 
The Utah Department of Health issued a COVID-19 Business Manual with a step-by-step plan to protect your business and prevent the spread of the virus. The manual has up-to-date recommendations from the UDOH, CDC, OHSA, and the U.S. Department of Labor. The Chamber encourages every business to use the guidelines found at:
 
https://coronavirus-download.utah.gov/business/COVID-19_Business_Packet_FIN.pdf
 
The Chamber also endorses and encourages the use of the following protocols:

  1. Good Hygiene: Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds. Do not shake hands or touch other people. Stay home when you are sick.
  2. Physical Spaces: Try to set up your workspace so employees are not in close contact with other employees or customers as much as possible. Try to Social Distance, which means staying six feet away from other people.
  3. Face Coverings and Masks: When you can't social distance, wear a mask or cloth face covering. Cloth face coverings provide an extra layer of protection to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling in the air and onto other people.
  4. Sick Employees Stay Home: If you are sick, do not come into the workplace. Send employees home if they get sick at work. If an employee tests positive for COVID-19 or is in close contact with someone who has tested positive, do not come to work and instead isolate or quarantine.
  5. Ventilation Controls: Make sure ventilation systems are working properly. Increase ventilation rates and run systems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if possible. Increase outdoor ventilation. Disable demand-controlled ventilation. Check filters to ensure they are installed correctly and see if they are within service life.
  6. Cleaning: Clean visibly dirty and high-touch areas and disinfect them after you clean. Train all cleaning staff on-site before they begin cleaning tasks.
  7. Symptom Monitoring: Screen employees and customers for signs of COVID-19 before they enter the worksite. Take each person's temperature, if possible. If an employee or customer has a fever or symptoms of COVID-19, ask them to go home and isolate right away.
  8. Travel: Limit non-essential travel. Do not travel if you are sick. 
  9. Training: Ensure employees understand your policies and procedures related to COVID-19. Teach employees how they can reduce the spread of COVID19 and protect themselves. Train employees about good hygiene practices. Teach employees what to do if they or someone in their family get symptoms of COVID-19.
  10. Employees at High Risk: Determine which employees are high-risk and help ensure they stay safe. Give high-risk employees duties that require less contact with customers and other employees. Discuss changes in job duties with the employee. Have high-risk employees work at home, if possible.
The Chamber asks that all high-risk Utahns stay at home as much as possible. Follow these guidelines diligently, and use common sense to minimize your exposure.
 
The Chamber supports the Stay Safe to Stay Open and MaskUpUtah campaigns to encourage the wearing of masks in businesses and in public when you are unable to stay six feet away from other people.

Wearing a mask:
  • Is the best way to ensure the economy and businesses can stay open during COVID-19.
  • Is the least expensive way to keep COVID-19 hospital admissions down.
  • Is a best practice.
  • Shows respect for others.
  • Expresses love for those you care for and are close to.
  • Shows you understand how to use your freedom and liberty responsibly.
“We urge everyone to wear a mask in public and when you can’t social distance in the workplace,” said Lockhart.

Leadership begins at the top in every company. The Chamber calls upon all business leaders to institute policies that follow these social distancing best practices and create a culture of compliance. The Chamber also asks that employees support and encourage each other at work to follow these protocols.
 
“We are all in this COVID-19 fight together,” said Lockhart.

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