Adapting to 2024 Workplace Safety Guidelines: COVID-19 Testing Best Practices
The height of the COVID-19 pandemic may be a thing of the past, but just as influenza, it isn’t going anywhere. This respiratory disease for the most part is seasonal, but we have seen an early rise in cases as of late. The latest variants of KP.2, KP.3, and LB.1 appear to be fueling that surge. According to wastewater testing data collected by the CDC as of July 18th, 21 states have very high levels of COVID. (Note: The CDC’s dataset is an interactive map showing current viral activity levels of SARS-COV-2 in wastewater and is updated regularly.)
For the most part, many of us have gone back to our usual pre-pandemic routines and are barely phased by COVID. For many though, catching it is still a concern because of underlying health issues, potentially exposing at-risk family members (such as the elderly or immunocompromised), or affecting workplace attendance.
While most of the strict protocols are a thing of the past in the workplace, COVID may still spread easily from employee to employee affecting productivity and the bottom line. The workplace setting provides many opportunities for the virus to spread from one individual to another. Conference rooms, lunchrooms, and assembly lines are all prime culprits. Managing staff outages and shutdowns due to this highly transmissible virus weighs heavily on employers. Thankfully, lengthy quarantine and isolation recommendations are long gone; however, there are still responsible precautions one can take to minimize spread.
Initiative-taking employers avail themselves to rapid molecular diagnostic devices, such as the AscencioDx®, to have individuals tested for COVID-19 when they are displaying symptoms or have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive. If well enough to work, those testing positive can mask, work in a more isolated workspace, and employ safe hygiene practices to avoid passing it to other co-workers. With a focus on health in the workplace, employers may mitigate the costs experienced by a loss of productivity when they suddenly have a mini workplace pandemic on their hands.
During an early evaluation of our AscencioDx product, Clinical Reference Laboratory (CRL), a highly respected clinical laboratory providing high-complexity molecular diagnostic COVID-19 testing and toxicology services to its wide range of clients (from healthcare to employment, etc.), wrote this of their experience with the AscencioDx platform and assay:
“The system is very user-friendly and well-suited for urgent care clinics and occupational/workplace settings, as well as universities. The protocol is as simple as a rapid antigen test, yet the test has high specificity and sensitivity being a molecular assay.”
— Heather Fehling, Ph.D., MB(ASCP)CM, TS(MD), HCLD/CC(ABB), Chief Scientific Officer, Molecular Diagnostic
Other Tools
During the height of the pandemic, the National Safety Council (NSC) developed a tool to aid employers in calculating the cost savings of using COVID-19 mitigation efforts such as testing, in addition to a host of informative resources on their website. Additional resources are available through Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has also taken COVID-19 and other communicable diseases in the workplace very seriously by providing their membership with exclusive updates, tools, and resources.
For more information on the AscencioDx COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic System and how it could be the best tool to help you maintain a safe and healthy workplace, please contact us at sales@anavasidx.com.
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