On February 28, 2020, the World Health Organization raised the
global risk assessment of COVID-19 (also known as the Wuhan Novel
Coronavirus) to "very high".
This post is intended to address common issues that have been
raised by employers since our last post on this issue (which can be
found
here).
Changes due to Global Nature of the
Pandemic
As of today's date, COVID-19 has spread to more than 50
countries and there have been 15 confirmed cases in Canada.
Given the near-global nature of the outbreak, employers are well
advised to issue communications to employees, both to provide
information regarding the outbreak and to provide guidelines for
how to proceed, should symptoms develop within the employee
population. Unfortunately, the general symptoms of COVID-19 can be
similar to those of influenza and/or the common cold, making it
difficult to identify those who may be affected.
