In small towns, H1N1 threatens health of businesses, too

By Tom Schutt

I am a second-generation owner of a small hardware store in Kerkhoven, Minn. Once I had a conversation with my father in law, in which I must have been whiny or insensitive. I remember him saying, "You want to know what a problem is? A problem is when you have a sign that says QUARANTINE in your front yard." That stuck with me.

Kerkhoven is a town with a population of 759 souls, halfway between Willmar and Benson on U.S. Hwy. 12. Other than myself, I have six part-time employees; one is my son, another is my daughter. All of my employees are high school or college students.

My business is very family oriented. My parents are getting older, but they check in on me every day and help however they can.

But I am the key person. When I am not in the store, my sales suffer. A couple of days per week, I am the only person operating my store.

So, if I were to suddenly come down with H1N1 or the seasonal flu, I could be faced with having to close my store until I recovered. My community would be inconvenienced and my suppliers would still be expecting to be paid. This would be a very bad thing for me.

A few weeks ago a question on MPR's NewsQ website asked business owners whether they had a contingency plan for H1N1. Just that day I had been asking myself what I would do if I caught it.

My situation as a small business owner -- actually, I am my business -- is common in Minnesota. Particularly in greater Minnesota, small Mom and Pop businesses are the norm. Many of the Main Street businesses in Kerkhoven are in a situation similar to mine. Should there be an outbreak of H1N1, our local car dealer, newspaper, restaurant, bar and lumber yard, all of them dependent on just a few people, would suffer. Many family farmers are in the same situation. If a few people were to come down with H1N1 at any one of these enterprises, there would be trouble. So we try to be careful.

I asked my employees to wash their hands often. I placed a bottle of hand sanitizer near the checkout counter and encouraged my employees to use it often. At least twice a day we spray the checkout counter, computer keyboards and telephone with an aerosol disinfectant. If we have a customer who shows signs of cold or influenza symptoms, we spray the cash.

I told my employees to stay home if they felt ill, no questions asked. I don't need a martyr who comes to work to impress the boss, and spread the gift of fever, body aches and respiratory congestion. If influenza had shown up in my household, I would have stayed and slept at my store. If I had come down with influenza, my wife would have stayed in Willmar, where she works. Or I would have bunked at my business, keeping it closed. I would do anything I could to prevent spreading these viruses to others, and try to keep at least one of us, my wife or myself, going to work.

I do not feel a sense of panic due to this influenza outbreak. It is simply a challenge with which we have to live. The economic impact on my business and family, if I were to be knocked down by H1N1, would be real. I can't afford to catch it, and God forbid that I be responsible for spreading it to any of my customers.

Recently, because I am a volunteer EMT on the local ambulance service, I was fortunate to be one of the first groups of people to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Getting the vaccine has given me peace of mind. I no longer worry each time I sneeze or am close to someone who sneezes. However, most people are still waiting for a chance to be vaccinated.

I was born in 1962, so I do not remember a time without penicillin. I do remember having to go through mumps the hard way. But our parents remember a time, before vaccinations and penicillin, when living with infectious diseases was a real and present danger. I know people who still suffer due to the effects of rheumatic fever and polio. But our parents remember when any number of diseases could and did change, and take, lives. Whooping cough, measles, even strep throat could become fatal.

Since World War II, medical advances have been so great that many of the diseases that used to kill and maim are now known only because of the vaccinations against them. The only reason we know about them is that we have to get a shot before attending school. What will we do if we have a rapidly spreading virus with a high mortality rate and no vaccine? How would we react if it became necessary to lock someone in his house and put a sign in the yard to prevent the spread of disease?

It's fortunate the World Health Organization has had the H1N1 virus to practice for what could someday be a nastier disease. I don't want to belittle the effects of H1N1, and my heart goes out to families who have lost someone to this virus. But it has not been as severe as the Spanish Influenza that swept the globe after World War I.

I have read that in Japan it is considered good manners to wear a face mask, to protect others, if one has a cold. Would we do this in the United States? We need our government to act when there is a problem such as H1N1. But first we should be asking what we can do to protect ourselves and our neighbors when we encounter a really big problem.

Tom Schutt is the owner of Schutt's Hardware in Kerkhoven, Minn.

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