Dear WCA Members & Friends,

As the city of Chicago responds to the COVID-19 global pandemic, we wanted to reach out to businesses and employers and remind you of some basic precautions that you can take to both lower risk of infection and reassure your patrons. All recommendations to lower the risk of infection were taken from the Center for Disease Control. If you want to learn more, click here.

Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers

• Encourage all sick employees to stay home from work

• Ensure your sick leave policy is flexible 

• Do not require a health provider’s sick note for an employee to stay home

• Separate sick employees from healthy employees

• Emphasize hand washing, use of a hand sanitizer with at least 60-95% alcohol, and coughing and sneezing etiquette

• Provide soap, tissues and hand sanitizer 

• Provide routine environmental cleaning of office space

• Encourage employees who have a sick family member or who have traveled recently to inform their supervisors

As employers, we recommend reaching out to your community and patrons and let them know about your already established cleaning practices, as well as how you are responding to COVID-19.

The Small Business Association has announced that they will be giving up to $2 million in disaster assistance loans to small businesses impacted by COVID-19.

Grubhub and the city of Chicago across the U.S. launch economic relief effort up to $100 million dollars for independent restaurants and delivery partners impacted by COVID-19 . Learn more here.

Stay up to date on the city’s response to COVID-19 here.

If you are a WCA member need help getting the word out about your already established business practices, or any kind of announcement involving the virus, please reach out to me at alex@wcachicago.org. I would be happy to include it in the WCA newsletter and social media.

Best,

Alex