Summit County’s Health Department is putting out the word that federal aid is available for Covid testing that could help small businesses weather the coming winter months.
At this week’s meeting of the Council of Governments, Deputy Health Director Phil Bondurant said the light is getting bigger at the end of the tunnel, but local business still has to get through the coming cold months.
He noted that Governor Gary Herbert’s office authorized a new guideline, saying that employees who have tested positive can go back to work in 7 days, not 14, if they show no symptoms and if they have tested negative.
But tests can be difficult to get.
“Getting the time back from a PCR test can range in how long that takes. So one of the things that we’ve done is use some of the CARES money to purchase a large number of tests to help small businesses, East, West, it doesn’t matter, small businesses in Summit County, after that 7-day mark, be tested and then return to work just a little bit earlier, saving pretty much a week’s worth of down time for those small businesses, which—the reality could be kinda the straw that breaks the camel’s back if we can get those folks back up and running a week earlier. That’s not only good for the small business, but it’s good for the employees as well.”
He invited the Mayors in the COG group to let them know about any local firms that could use help.
“If you hear of a small business on either side of the county—it doesn’t matter—that finds themselves in a quarantine or isolation-type of setting, where one employee came to work sick, didn’t know about it, or maybe they did know about it, exposed a number of other employees who are not sick—we want to make it available to the small businesses free of charge for the tests. The logistics that we’re working through are finding a certified or licensed health-care provider to administer those tests.”
