An organization should be strategic about COVID testing and have a proper plan for what to do and follow positive results. Testing is most required in areas where there is possible substantial community transmission of COVID-19 and workspaces where employees work in close contact with each other or in public.
Four Testing Checklist
There are four particular situations where testing is appropriate:
- Testing employees who show symptoms:If an employee has a fever during a regular temperature check, they should be isolated immediately and tested. Any employee who has been in close contact with that person should also be isolated and tested.
- Testing employees who have been exposed to COVID virus: If an employee is exposed to a positive COVID-19 case, they should be quarantined immediately and tested for the virus. The testing process should be done many days after exposure as the virus isn’t detected immediately. The employee should be in quarantine until the results come out.
- Testing employees of each shift: The organization should take a mass testing approach in areas where there is a high transmission, and the employees work in close contact.
- Testing once-infected employees before returning to the workplace: An organization can choose to get recovered employees tested once more before returning to work. However, tests may continue to find any traces of the virus even after the person has fully recovered. This should be a time-based approach like 14 days from exposure, over a testing requirement.
Workplace safety for COVID-19
In the first months of the COVID pandemic, many organizations vouched for widespread testing for the virus, including Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos. He stated that it is the safest way to get the employees back in the workplace. “If every person, also the ones who are asymptomatic, be tested regularly, it will have a positive response to our fight against COVID-19 virus. Employees whose test results come our positive can be quarantined. The ones whose results are negative can join the workplace,” Bezos stated earlier that Amazon announced building its testing labs. Amazon is also moving forward with a pilot lab to test its warehouse employees.
A survey conducted by global business consultancy Mercer found only 3% of employers were ready to test for the virus. “It would be highly efficient to test screen employees on a large scale efficiently, but until then, they can take the mini fast COVID test at home. However, this test is not fit for a large count,” stated David Zieg, the Denver-based clinical services leader at Mercer. Zieg also said that strategic testing is much more responsive to the pandemic organization, though social distancing, hand hygiene, sanitation, and contact tracing are still necessary.
“Presently, organizations should focus on symptomatic and quarantined individuals primarily,” he stated. Right now, the most crucial thing is to prepare and plan a strategy and get useful and reliable testing in hand.
California Facing Firmest Surge Of COVID-19 Cases Since Start Of The Pandemic
Sacramento County COVID-19 Cases
Since the start of the pandemic, 30,999 Sacramento County residents have verified positive for COVID-19 and 527 have died.
Food insecurity increases during the pandemic
Around 50 million American households are harassed with food insecurity, and many are upstairs the poverty line and thus barred for welfares that benefit low income families.
The figure of homes suffering food insecurity — at least one person not having sufficient to eat for a year — has skipped from 37 million two years ago to 50 million now. Blake Young is with the Sacramento Food Bank. He says California’s figures are in line with the nation’s — and it’s all tangled to the pandemic.
“Inopportunely for Sacramento, it’s sophisticated than the state and national average, Young told CapRadio’s Insight. “We had an emergency on our hands preceding to the pandemic. And you edge a pandemic, it’s just been — and with the indecision — it’s been certainly challenging for people.”
California facing fastest surge of COVID-19 cases since start of the pandemic
Throughout a live-streamed press conference on Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned that health officials are “sounding the alarm” over the quick upsurge in COVID-19 cases. The state on Tuesday moved forty counties back to more obstructive reopening tiers and constricted the rules on mask-wearing in public. Newsom also publicized some changes to the state’s tiered reopening system.
Under the new system, counties will passage back levels within one week instead of two, and some counties may move back manifold tiers. Counties will also have to style changes through the pretentious industries more speedily in its place of the former 72-hour waiting period.
“The spread of COVID-19, if leftward unchecked, could rapidly overwhelm our health care system and lead to shattering outcomes,” Newsom said in a news release. “That’s why we are dragging a substitute break in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Now is the spell to do all we can — government at all levels and Californians crosswise the state — to squash the curvature again as we have done before.”
Newsom said the state is presently facing a 4.6% 14-day usual and a 5% 7-day normal test positive rate during the live-streamed press conference, which he said is improved than the 9.8% national 7-day average but still worrisome.
Out of the 40 counties downhill back to more restrictive tiers, 28 of those will be accepted back into the most preventive purple tier, gesturing widespread COVID-19 transmission. That means 94% of Californians will be fronting these new restrictions by Tuesday, if not previously in the purple tier.
Some Northern California counties like Humbolt, Napa and San Francisco will be affecting back two tier levels.
Meatpacking plant fined by Cal/OSHA for COVID-19 safety violations
Cal/OSHA has penalized a Smithfield Foods of Virginia-owned meatpacking plant in Southern California due to COVID-19 security violations, rendering to the Associated Press.
The huge Los Angeles Farmer John meatpacking plant disobeyed protection violations and uncovered more than 300 workers to COVID-19 infections, including three who were hospitalized. The plan was fined more than $58,000.
Smithfield Foods of Virginia said it has done to prodigious lengths to shield its employees from the virus and will petition. The United Food and Commercial Workers union said its protests prompted the investigation after failing to get a reasonable response from Farmer John.
The company is well recognized for its hot dogs, sausages, bacon and other pork products.
David Copperfield suspending Las Vegas show after crew member tests positive for COVID-19
Illusionist David Copperfield is swinging his Las Vegas stage show after a crew member tested positive for the coronavirus, bestowing to the Associated Press.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal stated Monday that the legendary entertainer had “no idea yet” when his production at the MGM Grand will continue.
According to the newspaper, an internal email from MGM Resorts International officials on Friday said that one of his impression techs had been uncovered to the virus. Copperfield established the backstage crew member’s verdict on Sunday.
In a statement, Copperfield said his perfect crew would be verified again. His phase show was one of numerous residency productions across MGM Resorts that reopened Nov. 6.
Holiday travel is predictable to plummet due to pandemic
While Thanksgiving is a chief travel holiday, there are forecasts that rarer people will be striking the road, flying, or taking the train expressly since health officials are advice people to stay home.
The American Automobile Association supposes airlines to be hard hit notwithstanding the steep price cuts in holiday plane fares — the bottom they have been in two years. Only 2.5 million people are anticipated to fly to their destinations, the deepest one-year drop on record.
AAA spokesperson Doug Shupe said that he guesses there to be a 10- to 13-percent overall drop. “That’s the prime year-over-year decline since the 2008 recession when Thanksgiving travel fallen 26%,” said Shupe. Bus, train, or cruise travel is prophesied to drop 76% to just 350,000 travelers.
Shupe worried that even though travel will be down, the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving will still see the chief road traffic, and drivers can still suppose delays at prevalent bottlenecks. He also counseled drivers to make definite their cars are ready for a road trip because AAA expects to rescue more than 400,000 vehicles stuck on the roadside this holiday.