While managing his busy cafe in the northern Perth suburb of Joondalup, Richard Truong has been carving out time to plan for the likely spread of coronavirus.

Key points: Employers are confronting the reality of shutting if a worker tests positive

Employers are confronting the reality of shutting if a worker tests positive But many are confused about just who will pay staff who cannot work

But many are confused about just who will pay staff who cannot work Calls to a Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA advice line have surged

He said he would likely close the business if an employee tested positive for the disease.

"We would most probably close for that day and then obviously send that staff member home, and then chances are we would most probably close for another one or two days just to make sure there were no lingering symptoms," he said.

"We would do a bit of a clean, it would be a thorough cleaning of the cafe, making sure everything's disinfected and making sure any kind of touchable perishables like the sugars on the tables would all be thrown out and changed."

It is a situation facing employers across the country as questions persist about who will pay workers forced to self-isolate.

Mr Truong, who has worked alongside his mother at Moments Cafe for most of his 20s, said he believed the business could afford to help its largely casual staff if one of them contracted coronavirus.

Mr Truong says his cafe business can afford to pay some staff a cash advance if they have to stay home. ( ABC News: Eliza Borrello )

"We've been in business for nine years now [and] feel that we're financially stable enough that if a staff member were to say contract said disease, we would most probably give them a cash advance on their wages," he said.

"[The] majority of people that work here are casual, as most hospitality workers are, and we understand that it's quite hard financially to keep afloat if you can't work for two weeks.

"So we're prepared to essentially cover some of the staff's wages in case so that they can cover rent and food and living expenses and whatnot."

Likewise, he said a cash advance would apply if a staff member could not work because their child's school or childcare centre was forced to close.

Mr Truong has also been training staff to ensure the business can stay open if integral employees cannot work, and said he was happy with the level of information being shared by authorities about the outbreak.

"It's just about shuffling around, training people up while we have time to train people up," he said.

"I feel it hasn't hit us just yet but I feel we are quite well prepared for it, if the eventuality ever came to that."

Closing the doors just the first step

Down the road, the owner of AWT Accountants, Audrey Tooze, held a meeting with her 15-person workforce to discuss the outbreak.

She too said she would close her business if a staff member tested positive to coronavirus.

Audrey Tooze (right) held a meeting with her staff to talk about a potential workplace outbreak. ( ABC News: Eliza Borrello )

"Closing the office down and at least seeking medical advice. I think us as individuals wouldn't know enough," she said.

"Even if we got a person from the Health Department to tell us what we should do.

"I would also let other people know in the vicinity, obviously, for instance our neighbours in this building."

Ms Tooze said she had set up a four-person committee in her office to plan a response to any workplace outbreak, and resolved that anyone who had been in contact with someone who tested positive would also need to get tested.

But she did not believe staff needed to stay home if they had simply had an interaction with someone who had been in contact with someone else who had tested positive.

"I would still suggest they come to work until there's more known," she said.

"If the symptoms are there, then obviously … they would be sent home."

Confusion over exactly how to pay employees

Ms Tooze described herself as a "pro-parent" employer who was happy for staff to work from home if they needed to look after their children in the event schools closed.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 3 minutes 56 seconds 3 m 56 s Will the coronavirus push Australia into recession? Alan Kohler takes a look ( Alan Kohler )

"Our natural policy in the office is if you need to be at home with your children, you should be at home with the children," she said.

"Some of our main staff can actually spend time at home because they can remotely log in. It is something I encourage and I wouldn't have a problem with it at all."

But she said she remained unclear on precisely how she would pay staff who were unable to work.

"Does it fall under their normal sick entitlement? Is it separate, another entitlement separate to their sick leave?" she asked.

"That would be something I really need to find out."

As an aside, Ms Tooze said as a people-orientated person she was finding it hard not to shake the hands of clients.

"Shaking hands is a normal business thing that we do as professionals, so it's very hard to break that," she said.

Calls to business lobby advice line surge

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief economist Aaron Morey said Ms Tooze was not alone in not knowing what entitlements staff should be paid under, and said calls to the Chamber's member advice line were up 50 per cent on this time last year.

Aaron Morey from the Chamber of Commerce WA says the outbreak has left employers facing difficult questions. ( ABC News: Evelyn Manfield )

"These are really difficult issues, they're not black and white and they depend on the particular circumstances of businesses," he said.

"So we encourage anyone who's uncertain about how to manage this situation to call our member relations advice centre."

WA chief health officer Andrew Robertson said the health advice regarding when to send employees home had changed over time.

Calls to a Chamber of Commerce WA member advice line are up 50 per cent on this time last year. ( ABC News: Eliza Borrello )

"The current advice is obviously if people come from a high-risk country they shouldn't be going to work," he said.

"They should self-isolate [if they've travelled] from Iran, China and South Korea, and obviously we're also advising people who've also been to Italy to self-isolate."

Dr Robertson said workers travelling from any other country should go home if they felt sick.

"This is not the time to soldier on, this is not the time to go to work with a cough but to actually go home as soon as they become unwell," he said.

"Obviously we would need to see if they'd need to be tested and if they are positive then we would come back and look at the situation and provide advice to the employer."

Dr Robertson said workplaces would need to be cleaned in the event an employee tested positive.

Specialist coronavirus clinics opened at three Perth hospitals yesterday to test people for the disease. ( ABC News: Benjamin Gubana )

"Just a general good clean with normal disinfectants will be fine. It doesn't have to be excessive, but not a dust over either," he said.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said Government officials were meeting last night to discuss how such issues should be managed in the public sector.

"But it's a matter of employers simply following the advice from the [Health] Department in terms of these things and if they have any concerns, to contact the department for advice," he said.