Dr. Bruce Irwin, founder and CEO of Birmingham-based American Family Care, is both a medical doctor and a successful businessman. The Birmingham Business Alliance sat down with Dr. Irwin recently to get his unique perspective on businesses reopening in the midst of COVID-19.

Birmingham Business Alliance: With your unique perspective, what can Birmingham businesses do to reopen safely?

Dr. Bruce Irwin: The thing every business has to do is to create an atmosphere in their business so their employees and customers feel safe. And some of that, quite frankly, is an illusion. Things we can to do be safe in any business are not foolproof and are very difficult.

Businesses need to analyze their physical structure where they do business and what employees and customers are involved in on a day-to-day basis. I recommend that if your business has been closed for a while to come in and disinfect for the virus. The virus cannot live very long – it will disintegrate on hard surfaces very quickly and has to have a host to continue to multiply in a room. If a room has been empty for hours or days, there’s not much chance of exposure to the virus.

A lot has to do also with educating employees as to the type of behaviors they exhibit and doing behaviors that will make them less likely to become infected by the virus. Social distancing is recommended, so set up your workplace so employees will be at least six feet from each other, and have your customers maintain the same distance. Make masks available for employees to protect people who aren’t infected.

As you go back to the workplace and have examined your physical structure, cleaned it and, as you come back, have your employees maintain social distancing, think about how you should screen employees that have come back. You can test for antibodies, which are typically formed in reaction to a foreign substance.

Employers can test all employees with the standard COVID test, but that’s expensive. It’s wonderful if a company can afford it, but I don’t think it’s essential. The best way to screen is to test for fever and ask if employees have been exposed to anyone with COVID or had any symptoms – fever, dry cough, aches, pains similar to influenza. If employees have not been exposed to COVID and have not exhibited any symptoms, they’re as safe as they can be to come back to work.

Of course, none of these things ensure an employee is not going to get infected outside of the workplace and bring it in, so I recommend screening each day for fever and encouraging employees to keep a high level of awareness of themselves. If they exhibit signs or symptoms of COVID, have an awareness and go home. If they notice others feeling bad, bring it to their attention, and encourage that person to go home.

BBA: What if an employee does get infected?

BI: There’s no treatment at this point. If you are diagnosed and have symptoms, self-isolate for 10 days. We used to say 14, but now we say 10. Before you return, you must have three consecutive days of no fever if inside 10 days; if not, self-quarantine longer. If you take two COVID tests within 24 hours and both are negative, the employee is safe to return.

BBA: Alabama has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 cases since the full reopening. What can we do to flatten the curve?

BI: I don’t know if we can flatten the curve. I think people misunderstood what the government was attempting to do at the beginning. No one said we’d stop people from catching COVID, and no one ever said we would stop people from dying. The concern was that we would overcome the capacity of the health care system, with so many people getting so sick so quickly that the health care system couldn’t handle it. We proved we could keep it from being overwhelmed, and actually we threw the baby out with the washwater – the health care system was put out of work, with 98 percent of doctors and hospitals not used at all to capacity.

It terms of flattening the curve, you can minimize the risk at which people get infected and try to control the rate of infection, but this is a virus, and a virus is going to do what a virus does – it’s going to infect people as long as there are people to infect. Other factors like time of year matter. Viruses fall off this time of year because of the change in weather and change in humidity. This virus will slow down but will not go away. We’ll continue to see this virus for years to come, until there is a vaccine or we develop herd immunity. Even with herd immunity, we will see cases of it. COVID-19 is here to stay for a long time.

BBA: What advice would you give businesses struggling with whether to open to keep afloat but also concerned about the safety of their employees and customers?

BI: The most important thing employers need to know is they’ve got to do the best they can do to ensure employee and customer safety, that your place of business is a safe place to work and to receive services. We all need to know that. We’ll never be 100 percent, but do all you can do. Use sensible precautions and check people frequently for any signs or symptoms.

This interview has been edited for length.