Health officials warn of COVID rapid-test shortage
Jan. 6—ELKHART — A shortage of government-approved COVID-19 tests has resulted in restrictions that may affect employees trying to return to work, the Elkhart Health Department said Thursday.
Fueled largely by the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant, the number of COVID cases are skyrocketing in Indiana and across the nation, heath officials said. This sudden increase in case rates is hampering the supply of tests.
In its latest snapshot Thursday, the Indiana State Department of Health reported more than 15,000 new cases in Indiana, nearly double the number reported on any day in the surge of November 2020.
On Tuesday, the state informed local health departments that local free testing locations would immediately begin rationing rapid tests. Only two groups of people qualify for rapid tests at these sites:
* Anyone 18 or younger, regardless of their symptoms
* Anyone with symptoms who is 50 or older
These restrictions will only apply to rapid tests, they said. PCR tests, which may take several days to process, will still be available to everyone.
"We understand that many businesses rely on rapid tests from our free testing sites to clear their employees to return to work with a negative test result," the Elkhart County Health Department said. "After these changes, though, that method may lead to delayed returns for your employees."
To help smooth any issues that limited rapid testing availability may cause, health officials suggest employers update their company isolation policy and procedures to reflect current CDC recommendations on isolation.
The CDC suggests that anyone who develops symptomatic COVID 19 isolate for five days from the onset of symptoms.
If they have gone 24 hours without fever and have seen an improvement in other symptoms, that patient may end isolation. If someone tests positive for COVID but never develops symptoms, they too only need to isolate for five days.
Once the five-day isolation period is over, these patients may return to work but should remain masked for an additional five days.
"Until this current wave is over, we also ask that area businesses work with us to avoid unnecessary waste of testing supplies by not sending employees to the state-funded free testing sites to be cleared to return to work," the health department said.
Health officials said testing kits also may be obtained on the open market, and they would encouraged organizations to begin purchasing test kits if their policies will continue to require negative test results for employees.
Limitations on local free testing should be also be considered by companies seeking to comply with OSHA's COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standards.
"Strengthening your internal ability to test by purchasing test kits or contracting with private diagnostic companies will limit your organization's reliance on unpredictable federal logistics issues to stay in compliance," the release said.
