The Fortunate Ones

        By – Pamarty Venkataramana

All of us are the fortunate ones.The ones who have not become part of the statistical charts and data being splashed across television screens over the pandemic toll.

This is not a casual statement.

Covid-19 virus outbreak has very vividly brought to the fore the fallibility of mankind.

Even the most advanced countries possessing all wealth, technologies and war weaponry systems have been constrained to observe a total-lockdown and scurrying in search of a vaccine-cure.

The current pandemic is deadlier than any before. Battling an invisible enemy which shows no symptoms or mercy towards all humans, irrespective of age, gender, religion, caste, economic prowess or creed has been a most humbling experience.

Not for all, though.

There are those who curse an  establishment which is stretched to its  wit’s ends for all the casualties.There are others who are busily engaged in black-marketing, hoarding, profiteering, shortages, price increases, fraudulent practices including panic-buying.

The mass-media which has succumbed to sensationalism and uncorroborated reporting have left no stone unturned in highlighting the ill-equipped makeshift #Covid-19 hospitals or how patients are being scorned by ambulances and made to walk long distances from pillar to post for admission or endure long hours of waiting, to be tested.

Those attending to these suffering patients are the thousands of doctors, nurses, para medical staff, sanitation workers, policing personnel and media folks. Besides, a host of government officials and elected representatives of the general public.

A range of ailments, such as anxiety, chronic pain, inflammation, sleep problems and depression have afflicted those who have remained untouched by the pandemic.

Mental health and physical illness go hand in glove. Always.

Both employees as well as employers have the post-lockdown anxiety about ‘return to Offices’ still uncertain : Big Business Shifts from When to How

Offices and Firms are reimagining office life and planning for a slow return.

Among the class of working professionals themselves, attitudes range from impatience to ‘see you in 2021’.

Changing office layouts, making hallways one-way, requiring masks, disinfecting the fridge, agonizing over whether to keep the communal coffee machine running:when it comes to Big IT secure, eventual return to the office, nearly everything is on the table.

We, the fortunate ones of the world today!

The further we look into the future, the more we can imagine how global society may well be reinvented by the coronavirus pandemic. The 14th-century Black Death caused millions of deaths across Eurasia, splintered the largest territorial empire ever known (the Mongols), forced significant wage growth in Europe and promoted wider maritime exploration that led to European colonialism.

These phenomena trace strongly to the plague even if they played out over centuries.

The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic will emerge far more quickly, and with the benefit of foresight, we can try to mitigate them, capitalize on them, and build a more resilient global system in the process.

We must enact a Coronavirus Law in near record time and such a wide-ranging piece of legislation must give effect to the government’s action plan for responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Such a law must aim at facilitating the nation’s response in a number of key areas, including:

• increasing the available health and community healthcare workforce
• easing the burden on frontline healthcare workers
• containing and slowing the virus
• supporting people of all age-groups.

The Law must have wide-ranging legal and commercial consequences for businesses and the population at large.

A number of provisions would not be out of place and indeed may go further than would be anticipated, during wartime.

The past week has been marked by a flurry of regulations on when and how employees may return to work after the lapse of the state of emergency like total lockdown.

In such fast-changing legal environment, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of, and aware of the relevant requirements in real time.

The essayist seeks to summarize the most relevant obligations for employers (primarily) and employees when resuming work in the workplace.

We have summarized below the key measures to be implemented at the workplace.

👍 With respect to the organisation of work –

# Employers shall evaluate and decide on what activities/sectors of activity may be continued and/or adapted, depending on their specificity and available resources, and shall implement necessary measures for resuming and/or maintaining the activity, with the observance of relevant prevention measures, including work from home or telework. Despite the relaxation of certain restrictions during the state of alert, working from home and teleworking may remain the more feasible or practical option for some employers. In this case, employers may decide, subject to the employee’s consent, to implement such alternative working structures.

# Employers may implement phased-out working schedules for employees (especially for vulnerable groups) in order to limit direct contact between employees, but without affecting the length of the regular working hours.

# That said, employers hiring more than 50 employees must have the obligation to establish phased-out work schedules, without the need to obtain employee consent so that the start time and end time take place in intervals of at least 1 hour, for at least 3 hours,in tranches of at least 20% of the personnel.

👍 With respect to health and safety measures –

Employers must:

# conduct epidemiologic triage through temperature screening and symptoms observation, for both employees and visitors;

# assign a person responsible with the epidemiologic triage;

# inform employees on maintaining rigorous hygiene (using soap and water for at least 20 seconds, avoiding touching of the face with unsensitised hands, sneezing in the elbow pad or using a disposable napkin) and on limiting contact with others to maximum 15 minutes, at a distance of at least 1.5 meters;

# reinstruct and inform employees who have returned to the workplace after a period of working from home or telework on health & safety measures and related risks;

# ensure constant communication with the doctor/medical service provider responsible for occupational medicine, in order to monitor the employees’ health;

# initiate and conduct consultations with employees’ representative(s) holding specific health & safety responsibilities and/or members of the Health & Safety Committee at the company level;

# inform employees, primarily via electronic means, on the risks of virus contamination, protection measures, social distancing rules applicable at the company level, as well as management of cases involving employees or other persons having access to the workplace who do present Covid-19 symptoms;

# review the prevention and protection plan in accordance with the legal requirements.

Employees must:

# immediately inform the employer if they manifest COVID-19 symptoms or have manifested COVID-19 symptoms before the start of work (in which case employees shall remain at home and inform the employer in this respect;

# wear masks at the workplace;

# submit themselves to temperature screening at the workplace.

👍 With respect to workplace-

# Mandatory conduct rules for both employees and visitors shall be displayed at the entrance into the workplace and in the most visible places;

# Employees shall be informed on the requirement to maintain a social distance of at least 1.5 meters in all public areas; access to common area shall be restricted;

# Employer shall mark and implement specific access paths, as well as movement paths for the employees in order to avoid crowding;

# Employer shall issue internal rules for mitigating ad hoc gatherings of individuals inside the premises;

# Access of individuals showing COVID-19 symptoms to the premises shall be forbidden;

# In public places, strips marking the recommended distance (1.5 meters) shall be installed;

# Air ventilation of the premises shall be ensured at least once a day;

# Employers shall ensure phased-out lunch breaks, while observing the minimum distance of 1.5 metres.

We, the people, in India have a peculiar new monster in form of certain misguided elements spitting on fruits and vegetables sold by them. It becomes important to boycott such suspect vendors. There are others who revel in spreading canards out of dislike and even blind hatred for a certain section of our plural-society. It becomes a most important defensive measure to boycott fake-media outlets.

Yes.

Life is a blessing. We are fortunate. To be survivors of such a deadly, eerie pandemic.

So, let us act more responsibly towards personal safety, legally towards public awareness and with integrity towards community healthcare.

.. until this dark phase of the modern world ends thankfully with an effective vaccine to combat and overcome this ‘act-of-devil’ !