Testing for hospital employees varies in CT
DANBURY — Nursing home workers are now tested twice weekly for COVID-19 to ensure they aren’t bringing the disease into facilities and to ensure there is no spread. COVID exposure at schools have prompted quarantines whether or not teachers or students test positive.
And while COVID exposure is a potential risk in every corner of the state and workplaces, many front-line workers in hospitals come into contact with coronavirus patients on a daily basis but are able to continue to go to work without regular testing in some cases. Procedures for testing employees vary among the major hospital networks in the
state, with some testing staff with symptoms or exposures.
“Nuvance Health staff are screened daily in accordance with state and federal guidelines and have access to testing through our medical practices and also the many communitybased testing sites,” said Andrea Rynn, spokeswoman for Nuvance, which includes Danbury, Norwalk and New Milford hospitals.
Hospital employees are tested for a variety of reasons at Hartford HealthCare, which includes St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, said Dr. Ajay Kumar, chief clinical officer. Employees who show symptoms during the hospital’s screening process are referred to the call center for testing, he said. If a staff member becomes sick, targeted testing is conducted on his or her unit. The hospital also conducts random, voluntary testing of staff, he said.
Hartford HealthCare has specific hours for these employees to be tested.
“We can’t have them out for a long time because of workforce and management issues,” Kumar said.
Yale New Haven Health also tests staff who have symptoms, with the vast majority receiving results in 24 hours, said Rick Martinello, medical director for infection prevention.
“We have really prioritized our staff who become ill,” he said.
More than 13,000 staff without symptoms were also voluntarily tested in May and June, with only about 30 receiving positive results, he said.
What happens when staff are sick, exposed?
Rules surrounding quarantines and exposures are stricter among the general public than at hospitals.
Due to staff shortage concerns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health department allow health care workers to return to work after an exposure if they have no symptoms.
However, the CDC tells the general public to quarantine if they were in close contact with someone with the virus, although the time frame was recently reduced from 14 days to 10 days with no test and seven days with a negative result.
“We are following CDC and state DPH guidelines regarding employees that have exposures and/or symptoms and updating our extensive policies and procedures as this guidance continues to evolve,” Rynn said in a statement.
Hospitals wear personal protective equipment, such as masks, and aim to keep six feet apart from coworkers, which has made spread rare in health care settings, Kumar said. “There is a high amount of protection in all areas,” he said. “When someone turns positive, it could be community acquired.”
Local school districts have faced staff shortages due to exposed employees needing to quarantine. But unlike schools, hospitals cannot operate virtually.
“Our nursing staff in the hospital, their work is not amendable for virtual work,” Martinello said. “Our physicians cannot operate virtually. They need to be here with the patient.”
At Yale New Haven Health, staff members with “significant exposures” are tested twice—five and 12 days after the close contact— but still go to work if they do not have symptoms, Martinello said.
“We know that the personal protective equipment really limits the likelihood for COVID to be transmitted,” he said. “Even during some of these exposures that we think of as being high risk, it’s very uncommon for our staff to get COVID themselves.”
But sick staff members must stay home until they are better, even if they test negative for COVID, Martinello said. Employees use their regular paid time off, unless they were exposed at work, he said. Sick staff are still paid even if they have exhausted their allocated paid time off, he said.