The southwest corner of the Historic Lewis County Courthouse is seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, in Chehalis.
Local business owners received more guidance Wednesday from Lewis County Public Health and Social Services on how to safely bring employees back to work during the pandemic.
The return-to-work guidance is paired with a “symptom decision tree” to help employers gauge when to send workers home if they display symptoms of COVID-19.
If a worker tests positive for the virus, the county advises that they be sent home to isolate for 10 days. If that person gets severely ill, or is immuno-compromised, Public Health recommends they isolate for 20 days.
Employees who have been exposed to a positive case, but aren’t showing symptoms, should isolate for 14 days after their last day of exposure, even if they test negative for COVID-19.
“It may be too early for the test to detect the infection. People can spread the disease before they get symptoms or a positive test result,” the guidance reads.
As long as employees follow isolation guidelines, Public Health doesn’t recommend that employers require a negative test result for a previously sick person to return to work, because individuals who were positive could continue to test positive, even after they’re no longer contagious.
The recommendation represents a “time-based strategy,” rather than a test-based strategy, mirroring the CDC, which moved away from a test-based strategy in July, instead focusing on symptoms and timelines of how the virus works inside the body.
Regarding when to send employees home, the county’s symptom decision tree flags fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and loss of taste or smell as red flag symptoms, meaning employees should be sent home and tested for COVID-19. Workers with low-risk symptoms, generally associated with colds, should also be sent home until they subside. A COVID-19 test is not recommended unless symptoms worsen.
Public Health’s guidance for employers can be found at phsscovid19.lewiscountywa.gov.
