Good morning Jiscers!
Slightly random, but hope you can contribute opinion please.
I am currently trying to work out the most sensible & risk averse advice with regard to our International staff working in W Africa. I have advised that if a Brit, or an Asian for example etc leaves the region, before they are deployed elsewhere they should be on home leave for 3 weeks from the time they land in their home base. They are to monitor their health, and if pyrexial [38o and above] and/or have flu type symptoms, obviously to seek medical support to rule out Ebola. If they are asymptomatic for 21 days, they are then fit to be deployed to their next job, and are not carrying Ebola.
My problem is what to do with our W African staff, who are also mobile, and may be from the region, but would work anywhere else that is needed. Do we impose travel restrictions on them? They could finish their Liberian deployment, go home on leave to Sierra Leone hypothetically, but could at any time be exposed to the virus, and may not know for 3 weeks. I don't want to send them to a country that is struggling anyway, and introduce Ebola on top of everything else. [Eg. it is hurricane season in Haiti, we often need to deploy large numbers of international staff to assist with the fall out] Would a self assessment risk questionnaire be sufficient? I am conscious that although unlikely, the disease could be contracted during a flight, especially if/when the situation worsens and people may travel, hiding/not disclosing early
symptoms simply to get away from the outbreaks. Or do I simply advise that W African staff who have been working in, or who live in risk areas are not deployed out of West Africa until this has been contained/is over. I hope this makes sense, and would very much appreciate any thoughts on this, thank you very much. I am struggling, because my instinct is to advise the latter, but HR is not on board with it.
Jane.
