Working while ill is a bad idea

When I was a kid, my dad made me watch the Yankees. So I became a Mets fan

My parents made me listen to the Beatles, and told me they were good.images

I rebelled. I got into Run DMC and the Beastie Boys instead.

Maybe it’s just me, but telling someone what to do doesn’t usually work out.

I don’t know the answer to food handlers showing up to work with foodborne illness symptoms. It seems to happen even with paid sick leave (see Chipotle’s noro outbreak in Boston). An organization has to also make it okay for employees to use the sick leave.

Providing it but ostracizing those who use it is sorta useless.

CBC reports that ill food handlers are involved in yet another norovirus outbreak

The most likely cause of the recent outbreak of illness at the Delta Hotel is staff who were ill with the Norwalk virus while serving or doing food preparation, says P.E.I.’s chief public health officer.

After three Christmas parties at the Delta in Charlottetown in early December, 134 guests reported being ill.

Dr. Heather Morrison said 35 Delta staff also reported being ill, and four stool samples from staff and guests have come back positive for Norwalk, also known as norovirus.

Provincial senior environmental health officer Ryan Neale said there is no way, in the early incubation stages of the virus, to reduce the risk of transmission of norovirus to zero, although handwashing and good use of gloves can help.

Morrison said the hotel has enhanced its cleaning and adjusted its food handling practices, including the types of food being prepared for buffets, but she doesn’t know of anything the hotel could have done to avoid the outbreak.

Not having ill staff show up and handle food might have helped.

Sandwich artist says Subway manager made her work while ill

Norovirus is the perfect human pathogen. With its low median infectious dose and stability, norovirus is built to be transferred. Beyond its durability, billions of particles can be shed in every gram of feces and vomit from an infected individual and can be transferred well via fomites, food and water.

Sort of a nightmare for a restaurant if one of their kitchen staff shows up to work ill.

And a worse situation is when a manager says to an ill food handler that she can’t go home until after the lunch rush.images

Which is apparently what happened at a Freeport, Texas Subway. According to Emily Thomas at the Huffington Post, former sandwich artist Elizabeth Taff was eventually fired for wanting to go home because she had vomited.

A Subway worker in Freeport, Texas, claims she was forced to continue working her shift while suffering from a stomach bug, then was fired the same day.

Elizabeth Taff, 24, says she was so sick she could barely stand up straight and vomited several times during her shift on July 11, but her manager refused to let her leave unless she found someone to cover her shift.

“About 40 minutes into my shift I felt nauseous. My mouth started watering, and I knew I was about to vomit. I ran into the restroom and vomited repeatedly,” Taff told The Huffington Post. “I went and let my manager know, [but] she told me to find my own replacement after lunch rush.”

Taff says she then summoned enough strength to get through the lunch rush, hoping to track down another employee to fill in for her. But no one else was available, she said.

She noticed vomit on her work clothes and, rather than take a pay cut for a new work shirt, phoned home for someone to bring her a clean outfit, she said. She also maintains she didn’t leave work for fear of getting fired and losing her paycheck.

Speaking to local news outlet KPRC, Taff expressed concern for the impact her sickness could have had on customers.

“I was touching everybody’s sandwiches,” she said. “I’m like, ‘This ain’t right.’ I had gloves on but that doesn’t matter.”

Ultimately, though, she was fired that day. Subway asserts the decision was due to her “poor performance and insubordination,” reports KPRC.

“I was on my knees [on the grass outside the restaurant], while [the manager] berated me with remarks such as ‘you’re so stupid, if you cant handle working while feeling ill you don’t need to work here, all you had to do was switch shirts and finish your shift,'” Taff told HuffPost. “She told me I was fired since I was unable to talk, due to vomiting all over the place.”

Plus de 50 cas de maladies à norovirus ont été liés à des manipulateurs de denrées alimentaires malades

Translated by Albert Amgar

Une société de restauration commerciale du centre administratif de Mankato, Minnesota, est liée à une éclosion virale au cours de deux évènements distincts.

Ce que vous devez savoir a propos de norovirus

• Ne manipulez pas d’aliments lorsque vous êtes malade, spécialement si vous avez des symptômes comme de la diarrhée (car la transmission est probable) ou des vomissements (car les particules de virus peuvent se répandre aux mains, aux vêtements et aux autres surfaces)

• Des infections à norovirus peuvent avoir lieu sans symptômes

• Les personnes infectées peuvent répandre de grandes quantités de norovirus dans leur selles et leurs vomissements

• Norovirus peut persister sur des surfaces usuelles de cuisine pendant plus de 6 semaines

• Quelques désinfectants pour les mains ne sont pas efficaces pour réduire la présence de norovirus sur les mains

Les enquêteurs retracent l’éclosion à plusieurs manipulateurs d’aliments qui étaient malades

Les responsables de la santé du Minnesota ont dit que des employés malades de la restauration commerciale étaient à l’origine de l’éclosion à norovirus qui a rendu malades plus de 50 personnes qui ont mangé à l’occasion d’évènements au centre administratif de Mankato. L’éclosion a été liée à une seule société de restauration commerciale extérieure au centre administratif.

La majorité des personnes malades ont été en relation avec un évènement, le banquet du Greater Mankato Growth auquel plus 460 personnes ont assisté. Il y a eu aussi des rapports d’autres cas ultérieurs de maladies liés à un second évènement le jour suivant.
Les responsables de la santé ont procédé à une intervention auprès du fournisseur de la restauration commerciale qui comprenait un rappel des protocoles à suivre lorsque des employés tombent malades suite à une éclosion.

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