What type of screening tools does a municipality need to buy to reopen? How many people are allowed into each city or town hall? Can employees take off their masks at their own desks?
Kate Lavoie, a public sector practice leader for workplace consultant firm OneDigital, joined the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities’ and WNHH FM’s “The Municipal Voice,” to talk about how municipalities are looking at health care and reopening in the time of coronavirus.
“I would say theres a lot of confusion from municipalities on reopening,” Lavoie said. “Because [municipalities] have never really truly been closed.”
Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines suggest that a mask should be worn in public areas but is unnecessary in a cubicle or closed office setting.
The answers to municipalities’ other health care concerns are not as simple.
Municipal employees are at medium or high risk of contracting a serious case of Covid-19 due to factors like age and occupation. City and town employees overall skew older and are often first responders. Lavoie said that these factors will affect the overall cost of health care for municipalities.
Another concern is chronic health conditions like diabetes going unchecked. Lavoie said that many individuals are missing preventative care appointments to which they would have normally gone.
“All those missed appointments leads to a negative effect on your population health,” she said. “You have folks missing their annual preventative exams, mammograms, and colonoscopies.”
This gap in health care can lead to higher costs for the individual and municipality.
Municipalities, employees, and their insurance providers are tackling these questions over Zoom. Lavoie suggested municipalities review their benefits system — and possibly bring an expert in to help — since the marketplace has changed significantly over the past few years.
“It could be something as simple as a multi-line discount,” she said. This could end up saving municipalities more than they were paying for the initial line of coverage, according to Lavoie.
Covid-19 has made the connection between employee health and employer needs clear.
“A key thing is always spreading the message of how critically important it is to get preventive care, so the overall health of your employees is improving,” Lavoie said.
“The Municipal Voice” airs every other Wednesday on WNHH FM. The next episode airs on June 17. Listen to the latest episode by clicking on the video above in this story.
