Employers required to quickly report positive virus tests

The state wants New Mexico employers to respond more quickly when they’re notified a member of their workforce has tested positive for COVID-19.

The emergency rule, filed Wednesday by the state Environment Department, requires businesses to inform the state within four hours after learning one of their employees has received a positive test. The rule is good for 120 days, unless a permanent rule is adopted prior to the end of that period.

Environment Secretary James Kenney said the state’s rapid response process depends upon discovering when an employee has tested positive. When a rapid response is triggered, state officials may ask a business to temporarily cease operations, require testing of employees and make certain individuals who test positive are quarantined to prevent spread of the virus.

According to the Environment Department, there have been more than 600 instances where an employer knew that an employee had COVID-19 long before state officials did. Of that number, 280 cases had a lag time of at least three days.

That gave the department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau less time to conduct testing and offer

preventive health care guidelines, such as quarantine.

“A critical element of the state’s rapid responses is timing — we need to hear as soon as possible when a positive case is identified,” Kenney said in a news release. “This amendment ensures that New Mexico employees are protected in the workplace and employers are held accountable.”

Language in the order says it is necessary to fill a “void” that is causing “imminent peril” to the community.

Environment Department Maddy Hayden spokeswoman said officials don’t believe employers are “maliciously putting their employees at risk” but noted the new rule will help “get the word out so this becomes a standard practice of New Mexico workplaces.”

That practice should in turn lead to more rapid response testing at workplaces around the state, she said.

As of Tuesday, the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau had conducted about 1,100 rapid response procedures, Hayden said.