Barneys Feature Blog: With special guest blogger Cassandra Southwell – B Med Sci Hons
“Infection Control is everybody’s business because it aims to protect everyone.”
The person sitting next to you on the bus, the lady standing behind you at the checkout, and the postman who just delivered your mail – they all seem healthy at a glance, but how do you know if they are infectious? The reality is you don’t. Most people are asymptomatic when they first become exposed to a pathogen, and it is usually before they develop symptoms that they begin to be contagious. So, in the above scenarios, all 3 individuals could potentially be infectious.
This is what happens with customers entering your salon. Without pre-screening clients, you have no idea what pathogens they may be carrying in the pre-symptomatic phase of infection. During this time, it is unlikely they would even know themselves.
When the pandemic begun, every salon in Australia closed its door as the risk of transmission was so high. Australia then got the pandemic under control, and salons started opening again. With this re-opening came an increase in cleaning and disinfection. The irony is though, the pandemic should not have changed how we clean and disinfect; we should not have had to increase our cleaning and disinfection efforts because they should not have been lacking in the first place.
When we look at how hospitals and healthcare facilities treat people entering their facilities, they assume everyone is infectious. However, when we look at alternative institutions, they assume everyone is healthy. If the pandemic changed anything, it was this assumption – suddenly, no matter where you were in the world, everyone was potentially infectious.
The unique nature COVID-19 and its incubation period of up to 14 days highlighted how inaccurate our original assumptions were. Cold, flu and gastro are always prevalent in the community and they all start with an asymptomatic incubation time where an individual can spread the pathogen without knowing. Imagine if we took what we had learnt throughout the pandemic and continued to apply it throughout everyday life?
Imagine if we continued to uphold superior infection prevention and control methods, continued performing hand hygiene, and continued cleaning and disinfecting our surfaces?
What impact do you think that would have on community transmission of cold, flu and gastro?
If our latest epidemiological data is anything to go by, it shows that we clearly did not take in what we learnt throughout the pandemic. Society has again become complacent and our infectious rates for other illnesses such as gastro are currently at record highs.
Obviously, we cannot shutdown our salons every time there is an infectious agent present. However, the reality is, prior to the pandemic we were dealing with other infectious agents and so even when this pandemic is over, there will always be a risk to our community. The pandemic taught people to be resourceful and, with advancements in technology, it has become far easier to access salon treatments in the comfort of your own home. However, for most, going to the salon is an experience – some find it relaxing, some find it luxurious – and the last thing you want is someone finding it makes them sick.
Infection Control is everybody’s business because it aims to protect everyone. If the last few weeks are anything to go by, it shows how important it is to always uphold superior infection control practices.
Transmission is not just limited to clients, but also to staff. You generally hear of workplaces and their office ‘lurgies’ and how they are passed around to all staff. What happens when you or another staff member becomes unwell? It places significant financial stress on not only businesses, but individuals as well. It is often this financial pressure that also encourages individuals to keep working even whilst unwell.
We must continue performing hand hygiene, wearing PPE, social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting our surfaces to protect ourselves and our community.
Cassandra Southwell – B Med Sci Hons