Evolution of COVID-19 Knowledge and Impact on the Workplace

By Marjory Robertson, Esq.

AVP, Senior Counsel
Sun Life U.S.

Many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it challenging for employers to protect the health and wellness of their teams, including the evolution of scientific understanding, which has prompted different recommendations and requirements for worker safety. In addition to our evolving understanding of the virus, a polarized political climate in the U.S. has increased the number of individuals who distrust the scientific community. Unfortunately, employers are often caught in the middle as they implement and enforce safety measures. In this article, we examine how our understanding of this vexing illness has evolved and its effects on employers’ legal obligations and policies to ensure employee health and wellness.

Phase 1: The First Outbreaks

In early 2020, when U.S. employees and employers learned about COVID-19 outbreaks, the focus was on containing spread. Initially, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not recommend masks for asymptomatic individuals, in part because of mask shortages for healthcare workers in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. The emphasis was on sanitizing physical surfaces with concern for the length of time the virus could survive. As the first outbreaks were observed, the CDC highlighted symptoms that included cough, fever, and shortness of breath.

Phase 2: Asymptomatic Spread Closes Workplaces and Businesses  

Government recommendations (and requirements from some states and localities) for workplace safety evolved as the CDC learned more about asymptomatic spread. The CDC revised mask recommendations and encouraged masks to be worn indoors in public settings and outdoors when physical distancing could not be maintained. As data was collected, the CDC reported the primary cause of spread was airborne transmission, not surface-to-surface contamination, which shifted the focus of workplace safety measures to preventing airborne spread.¹ During this time, many companies became as fully remote as possible to reduce spread.

Employers also instituted daily symptom screening, which included taking employees’ temperatures for those who reported to physical work locations. The CDC advised that testing for fever alone was not a reliable indicator and added upset stomach, headache, fatigue, and loss of smell or taste to the list of COVID-19 symptoms. These changes required employers to modify daily screening questions for employees reporting to offices for work.

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