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A new coronavirus flash survey offers a glimpse into how stateside companies in a wide range of industries were reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic just as it was beginning to take hold in the United States. 

As of Monday, 19 of the 551 companies that participated in the Seyfarth Shaw study reported having a U.S.-based employee who had tested positive for COVID-19. 

Of those companies, 50% reacted by closing for an extended period, 25% shut their doors for a day to two days of cleaning, and 25% required anonymous disclosure of potential infection and encouraged self-quarantine, according to the March 12-16 survey.

The report acknowledges that much has changed in just the past few days since the study was completed. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has skyrocketed from about 100 at the beginning of March to more than 10,000 with 150 deaths and counting as of Thursday. But the findings serve "as a brief snapshot in time that points to interesting insights and trends." 

A Seyfarth lawyer was not immediately available for comment Thursday. 

As the number of coronavirus cases began to spike in the U.S., 73% of respondents said they were planning to evaluate or change personnel policies, benefits or safety rules as a result of the outbreak. 

But only 12% said they were providing extra benefits to their employees, such as supplemental leave policy, increased sick days, paid administrative time off and alternate work schedules. 

Nearly 40% of the companies were not planning to offer extra benefits to their affected employees and the remaining 48% said they hadn't considered doing so or were unsure of the legal requirements. 

As for allowing employees to work from home: 42% said they were determining whether workers could telecommute on a case-by-case basis, 36% were allowing all staff to work remotely, 16% said they weren't allowing it, and 6% said they were but only in coronavirus hotspots. 

The situation had spurred 67% of companies to take proactive steps to expand their employees' ability to work from home, while the remainder of respondents said they were not taking those steps or that it would be impractical or impossible to do so. 

Other findings include:

• 48% of respondents planned to provide leave to allow employees to care for their children where schools or child care centers were closed, while 32% were on the fence and 20% were not providing leave for child care. 
• 41% were continuing to pay wages during work stoppages or quarantines, 27% were not paying wages, 19% were unsure of whether they were legally required to keep paying employees, and 13% hadn't considered the issue. 
• Only 350 of the participants answered whether they'd require employees to be quarantined under certain circumstances in the 14 days before the survey: 90% of respondents said they had done so for employees who visited high-risk countries and 40% said they had done so for staff who had gone on a cruise.