As we move towards reopening, the focus has been on vaccination rollout and protecting our communities with immunity. It is certainly an effective tool and we are striving towards widespread protection. But due to COVID-19 variants and vaccine hesitancy, outbreaks are still of concern. Keeping your valued employees healthy and creating a safe workspace within your community is of utmost importance as governments begin lifting restrictions. A comprehensive reopening strategy for workplaces should include a robust testing protocol.
Opening Safely With Rapid Testing
Make sure you are protecting the health of your staff and customers by ensuring that your reopening strategy includes a rapid testing component. This safeguards your business with the ability to react swiftly to mitigate spread, minimize interruptions to your operations, and avoid costly shutdowns with COVID-19 Workplace Rapid Antigen testing.
What is Rapid Testing?
Rapid Response® COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device detects viral antigens (the presence of contagious infection/virus). This test is done by performing a nasal or nasopharyngeal swab and does not require any special laboratory equipment. And unlike standard COVID testing, the results are easily interpreted and ready in 15 minutes. The BNTX brand is over 95% accurate compared to the 90% accuracy of standard molecular testing models and does not require in-lab processing.
COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Testing allows you to test on-site with swift test results. This is an effective tool to avoid disruptions to your operations. Here are some other useful considerations as you plan your reopening:
- Understand Regional Guidelines: Strategies for reopening and regulated measures for public health differ city to city and province to province. Ensure that your leadership team is very clear on mandated practices.
- Communicate Clearly With Staff: Establish concise workplace processes and practices and communicate these clearly to your staff. Ensure that each member of your team has access to the health and sanitation materials required. Create an open forum for staff to report areas of concern and address these with care, compassion, and urgency.
- Foster A Healthy “Sick Day” Policy: Set clear expectations for employees to follow if they feel ill or are experiencing any of the symptoms of COVID-19. Keep your workplace healthy by assuring workers that they are not expected to come in when they are unwell.
- Implement a Routine Screening Process: Consider a daily questionnaire and temperature check upon entry for staff. This pause to reflect on and reiterate the symptoms of COVID-19 can become your office’s first line of defense, stopping the virus at the door.
And Consider This
Data from the CDC and WHO has shown roughly 30 percent of COVID-19 cases are from asymptomatic individuals, meaning they have the virus without ever experiencing any symptoms. Implementing a program of rapid testing can allow businesses to manage the risks of having an outbreak occur.
Don’t neglect to make COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Testing part of your reopening strategy. COVID-19 Rapid Test screening programs detect the virus in pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic staff and processes to isolate and test further can be implemented immediately to stop or manage the spread within the workplace.
Rapid Workplace Testing With Ichor
Ichor Blood Services is ready to help employers create safe and healthy environments by bringing our COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Testing to your worksite. The complete elimination of the risk of COVID-19 spread in the workplace is impossible to guarantee, but with a comprehensive program that includes the measures above and a partnership with Ichor Blood Services to implement Rapid Testing, you can avoid outbreaks, closures, and associated costs of workplace shutdowns and keep your employees safer.
If you are seeking to create a program of on-site rapid testing in your workplace, connect with the professional team at Ichor now. Call Ichor Blood Services at 1-844-424-6728.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How often should we test our employees?
An employee could be not contagious one day, but very well become contagious two days later. Connect with our team at Ichor and we can help you determine the frequency of testing based on the unique factors of your business.
What does a positive test mean?
An employee who receives a positive screening result on the rapid test should be presumed to be positive for COVID-19 until a follow-up test is performed and results are received. This individual is required to follow mandatory public health measures, including immediately isolating.
Can you administer the tests at any worksite?
Ichor can provide the test kits to your business or perform the rapid tests at the workplace and we can also manage a rapid testing program onsite.
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