When I go out on a cold day, I take a layered approach to staying warm. Sometimes the sun will come out, and I can take off a layer. Sometimes the wind will make me grateful that I have one more layer. Employers should take a similar approach to protecting employees, customers and the community from COVID-19. As many employers contemplate returning remote workers to the workplace, employers need multiple different but complementary approaches to keep them safe.

Basic public health measures

Employers should continue to emphasize basic public health measures to prevent the spread of respiratory disease until the pandemic is over. This means:

• Require masks, which have been well demonstrated to decrease the rate of infection after exposure by at least 75%.
• Promote physical distancing: Being closer indoors for longer increases the risk of spread. For many employers, effective distancing means decreasing density of employees as well as imposing capacity limits on indoor spaces.
• Improve ventilation, which can also decrease spread when there is a workplace exposure. Some employers are doing this through tweaks to heating and cooling systems or with enhanced filtration.
• Promote hand washing. We now understand that SARS CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is rarely spread from surface contact, so we can decrease our emphasis on "deep cleaning." The good news is this also means no one needs to wipe their groceries or produce with disinfectant wipes, either!

With masks and distancing and handwashing, we've decreased influenza this season by 99% – so it's possible that some of these public health measures will serve us well post-pandemic, too.