re: JBE Just Said That You Do Not Have To Wait to Test Negative Before Returning To Work

whats the rules on if you were exposed to someone who tested positive?

14 day thing has been out the window for quite a while. If you’ve tested positive this is what doctors have been saying for a while. It’s also the cdc recommendation and has been on the website for a while. Just the first time you’ve heard it come from him

It’s really not a dumb gripe if you’re having to stay home and not working = not getting paid.

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The point is now they are saying businesses should not be requiring people to test negative before returning to work

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Because it’s pretty irrelevant

That guidance is pretty consistent in Texas.

I have an employee that tested positive. The county epidemiologist sends documentation outlining why a negative test to return to work isn't necessary.

Evidently, dead COVID cells can stay in your body up to 8 weeks post virus running it's course and create a false positive.

That whole thought process created more questions than they had answers for, so I let them off the hook.

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The county epidemiologist sends documentation outlining why a negative test to return to work isn't necessary.

Evidently, dead COVID cells can stay in your body up to 8 weeks post virus running it's course and create a false positive.

That whole thought process created more questions than they had answers for, so I let them off the hook.

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Some places were requiring 2 negative test before returning to work or other places.

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Well they shouldn’t. Research is ever changing with this. They have found that 7-10 days after start of symptoms as long as they are getting better people don’t have a viral load that is contagious. There is also issues of people testing positive for weeks to a month because traces of the virus are still in the nasal cavity. Does your work make you test negative for the flu, strep, etc if you get them before going back to work? No bc that’s just unnecessary

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Well how about the poor souls that are forced to test and it’s taking 10-14 days to get a result? All the while they have to stay quarantined until they get their results, and even if they are negative, if they had been around a coworker that tested positive, there’s another 14 days of quarantine for that person.

So a perfectly healthy person can end up being quarantined for 28 days for no fricking reason.

It’s fricking stupid.

Not according to work.

They ain’t gonna roll with that. They gonna follow their own rules

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Well how about the poor souls that are forced to test and it’s taking 10-14 days to get a result? All the while they have to stay quarantined until they get their results, and even if they are negative, if they had been around a coworker that tested positive, there’s another 14 days of quarantine for that person.

So a perfectly healthy person can end up being quarantined for 28 days for no fricking reason.

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If someone waits 10-14 days for test results and they were quarantined during that time, how would they have come into contact with another positive coworker?

It’s really not that complicated:
1. If you develop COVID symptoms, you get tested and go into self-quarantine.
- Negative test = go back to work.
- Positive test = stay in quarantine for at least 10 days from onset of symptoms AND 3 days from end of symptoms

2. If you are exposed to someone with COVID symptoms, they get tested and self-quarantine per #1, and you go into self-quarantine pending their test results.
- If they test negative, you both go back to work.
- If they test positive and you never develop symptoms, you go back to work after 14 days from your contact with them.
- If they test positive and you develop symptoms within 14 days, you get tested and continue quarantine per #1.

It kind of seems like you’re throwing hypotheticals out looking for a “gotcha” for the sake of being mad. But most of those hypotheticals don’t even come up under these guidelines.

If a business chooses not to follow these guidelines and instead requires a negative test to return to work after potential exposure, that’s their decision but it’s still not all that complicated. The only scenario that really gets hairy is if you live with someone who tests positive.

Also, it’s a little odd to see anger over this when people have been screaming about multiple positive tests for over a month now. Under these guidelines, you only need to be tested once. That means positive tests don’t get duplicated...

I can confirm that this is the stance.

I know a state worker that has COVID-19 and is sick. They told he/she to return in 14 days and dont care if they take another test or not.

On the flip side they are begging people to go take tests at the testing centers.

I think maximizing federal dollars that flows in is a major driver in a lot of the decisions that are being made. Trump and congress is making it rain money.