As business owners, we all hope to eliminate COVID-19 spread at the workplace. Understanding who can get infected after receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations may be difficult. Even after completing your vaccination series, working with obvious symptoms (e.g. fever, cough, runny nose) should be avoided at all costs. We really should have always been thinking about avoiding the annual “office cold” rather than tacitly accepting shared infections for years.
So, how should a business owner interpret positive COVID-19 test results among employees in our post-vaccine world? Full details can be found on CDC’s website.
Here are 3 major points to note if you manage employees reporting positive results.
Vaccination status
- Is your employee fully vaccinated (as defined here)?
- If vaccinated, clarify if the positive test was obtained due to symptoms or exposure as there may be a small chance of a false positive result.
- If not vaccinated, isolate employees according to guidance.
- Key point: Completing the authorized COVID-19 vaccine series decreases the risk for infection, transmission and severe disease
Presence of symptoms
- Was your employee tested due to COVID-19 symptoms? Are there other explanations for those symptoms (e.g. allergies, food poisoning etc.)?
- If employee has symptoms, isolate according to CDC guidance
- If employee has no symptoms, clarify reason for test, vaccination, exposure or close contact
- Key point: There is a higher chance of a false positive result in people without any symptoms or without known close contact exposure
Type of tests
- What type of test was obtained – Antigen, PCR, Antibody?
- Tests may be rapid or slow and use antigen (proteins) or PCR (genetic material) methodologies
- Each test has limitations or could miss variants. Interpret results carefully.
- CDC provides a step by step algorithm for interpreting test results
- Key point: You may see false results with antigen tests especially when used for people without symptoms. Antibody tests should not be used to diagnose a current infection. Antibody tests identify past infections or vaccine responses.
Other questions for managing fully vaccinated employees
- Do they need to quarantine after an exposure?
- No, except if they work in a high-density area (See here).
- Do they need to isolate after a positive test?
- Yes, use the points listed above to understand the validity of the test.
- Do they need to participate in routine surveillance tests?
- Depends on local COVID-19 cases and reason for surveillance tests.
Contact us to discuss how to peel back mitigation measures safely.
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