Monday, August 23, 2021

Coronavirus Update 8-23-21: I’ll have a side of Covid with my burger, please


That is perennial political loser and 2022 Senatorial candidate Josh Mandel tweeting in support of a local restaurant. 

If you question why encouraging sick employees to report to work is a bad idea, consider that within hours of John Mandel's tweet, Inside the Five's Twitter disappeared, and people starting slamming them on Yelp with one-star reviews such as, "We're in the middle of a pandemic and these guys are online bragging about their employees coming in sick. This is scary and deplorable," and "They should change the name to Superspreaders."

Even in the best of times, employees should be encouraged to stay home when they are ill. But in the midst of a global pandemic resulting from a highly contagious airborne virus? We definitely should be requiring sick employees to stay the heck home. If your business can afford it, paid sick leave helps this cause. Either way, employees need to understand that knowingly coming to work sick during a pandemic is grounds for immediate termination of employment. Yes, staffing is hard right now, but it will be a lot harder if one of your employees gives Covid to the rest of your employees. Even worse, an outbreak among your customers. End of story.