Health officials: Stay home while waiting for covid-19 test results

People who are awaiting covid-19 test results should presume they have the virus and self-isolate until they receive the results in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, health officials said.

A question of personal responsibility in regard to the coronavirus pandemic was posed to health care professionals after an employee at the Sheetz in East Deer tested positive for the virus.

“You shouldn’t be going to work while you’re awaiting a pending test,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based doctor who is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “It makes no sense because if a medical provider was suspicious enough to think that you needed to be tested for this, then you need to act as if you actually have it.”

The employee was at the Sheetz on Wednesday morning. It closed immediately because of the positive test and reopened after being cleaned and sanitized.

Sheetz spokesman Nick Ruffner said any employee who tests positive for the virus is required to stay home for a minimum of two weeks and must present a doctor’s note to be able to return to work.

Employees who may have been exposed to covid-19 outside of work aren’t allowed to return until they test negative for the virus and aren’t displaying symptoms.

Ruffner declined to say when the impacted employee was tested but said the company is following up to make sure all procedures were followed.

“While Sheetz does not provide personal details about employees who test positive for covid-19, we have instituted a number of measures to make sure that our employees are safe,” Ruffner said. “If we ever receive indication that our covid-19 protocols were not being followed, we would investigate and take appropriate action.”

Ruffner said employees who were in contact with the impacted employee were strongly encouraged to get tested. The company will pay for employees to get tested if they were possibly exposed at work.

Sheetz employees are paid their full salary for any time they miss because of contracting the virus or while they are awaiting test results, but that may not be the case everywhere.

High demand for tests a big problem

The high demand for covid-19 testing nationwide has been delaying results from tests performed at outpatient centers, which is hampering the ability of public health authorities to control the virus.

The turnaround time for such results depends on where someone gets tested. A longer wait time for the results could affect how soon someone is able to return to work.

“It’s easy to stay home for a couple of hours to wait for your test result, but if you’ve got to wait for seven days, that’s a whole different proposition,” Adalja said. “It’s not surprising that you find people not able to stay home that long.”

“This really underscores the need to get a solution to this testing problem for outpatients so that it can be done rapidly and people can go on with their lives,” Adalja said.

Officials with the state Department of Health said people awaiting covid-19 test results should self-quarantine and make a list of people they came into contact with before they were tested. If the impacted person needs to go out, they should wear a mask and avoid contact with others.

If the impacted person lives with others, they should try to stay in a separate bedroom and use a separate bathroom. If there is a shared common area, they should wear a mask and interact with others as little as possible.

“Pennsylvanians continue to make sacrifices to keep each other safe each day,” said Maggi Mumma, a health department spokeswoman. “We recommend workplaces telecommute as able. We are also asking employers to work with their employees, and to tell employees who believe they may have covid-19 to stay home.”