Home › Forums › Community › When a COVID-19 positive person has been 48 hrs symptom free and it has been 14 days since their symptom onset, Public Health considers the person recovered and free to resume work and more. because of false positives due to dead viral shedding, Public Health does not support additional testing to get a negative test result. Can an employer expect further testing in this situation regardless? or, must we allow the worker to return regardless?

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  • vickyp
    Keymaster
    August 24, 2020 at 4:00 pm
    Post count: 3649
    #102768
    Forum: Community
    vickyp
    Keymaster
    December 18, 2023 at 9:51 am
    Post count: 3649
    #103211

    No, you can’t require confirmatory testing.
    Explanation: Your authority as an employer goes only so far as the current public health guidelines allow. Keep in mind that undergoing COVID testing is typically not just inconvenient but also uncomfortable since the most common form of testing, RT-PCR, is done on throat samples extracted with a big swab through the patient’s nose. You can, of course, always recommend that a recovered worker get tested but can’t bar his/her return to work if he/she refuses. Now if the guidelines change and call for confirmatory testing, you’re back on solid ground in requiring a negative before a return. But you can’t go that far today. Hope that helps and sorry for the delay in responding. Glenn

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