San Diego workers who tested positive for COVID-19 and have recovered no longer need to be tested again before safely returning to their workplaces, county public health officials said.
San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said Monday the new guidance on testing for employees returning to work after having COVID-19 had come down from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Before, employers needed to have any employees who had been infected with COVID-19 take two negative tests 24 hours apart before being given the green light to return to work. Now, that recommendation is no longer required, Wooten said.
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“Employers do not need to follow the test-based strategy for their employees to go back to work,” Wooten explained at a county public health briefing. “Employers must ensure that employees have met the new criteria to be released from isolation.”
Wooten also talked about the CDC’s newly-released guidance on home isolation for those who test positive for COVID-19.
People with mild to moderate symptoms, who have not taken a test, can discontinue self-isolation 10 days after symptoms begin and if at least 24 hours have passed since that person had a fever without taking fever-reducing medications. Other symptoms must also be resolved.
Those with severe symptoms or who are severely immunocompromised should self-isolate for 20 days after symptom onset and wait one day after fever and their other symptoms have resolved.
Wooten said those who test positive without showing symptoms should self-isolate for 10 days after a positive test. Those who are severely immunocompromised who don’t show symptoms should isolate for 20 days after their positive test.
More on the CDC’s recommendations for safely ending home isolation can be read here.
On Monday, San Diego County public health officials said San Diego County remains on California’s monitoring list due to a COVID-19 case rate that remains higher than what is necessary to contain the spread of the disease.
In order to get off the state’s monitoring list, Wooten said there cannot be more than 234 COVID-19 cases reported
here were 523 new COVID-19 cases reported in San Diego County. In order to get the county off the state watch list, there cannot be more than 234 cases reported daily for 14 consecutive days.
As of Feb. 14, 2020 – with Monday’s newest numbers – there have been a total of 27,507 positive COVID-19 cases in San Diego County, and 533 COVID-related deaths.
You can catch up on the latest local coronavirus numbers here.
