COVID-19 Testing for Long-Term Care Facility Employees

Updated 1/11/21, 3 p.m.

Important Contacts

COVID-19 Testing for Long-Term Care Facility Employees

Due to increased testing supplies and the capacity to sample more residents, SCHD expanded the criteria for COVID-19 testing, which will assist in tracking and controlling the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The expanded criteria include workers who aid and treat people who are sick or who work in group living situations. These front-line workers, who can be tested on a weekly basis with or without symptoms, include:

•  Healthcare workers, including those working in hospitals, clinics, long-term care, hospice, and home health
• First responders (EMS, Fire)
• Law enforcement
• Direct Support Professionals
• People working in residential living facilities, such as detention facility workers, group homes, residential schools
• Persons working in in-person classrooms of preK to 12th grade students

Guidance:

1.  Long-term care facility staff can receive a no-cost test SCHD at the walk-in/bike-in K-State Research and Extension Center: 7001 W 21st North, Wichita. Hours are 8:30-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. No appointment needed, first come, first serve.

• If you have symptoms, do not go to work until test results are returned.
  • Always practice good hygiene and social distancing. Stay away from others while sick.
• If you do not have symptoms, you can go to work until test results are returned.
  • While waiting for test results, practice good hygiene and social distancing. Wear a face covering, face mask, or respirator and other personal protective equipment (PPE) as appropriate for your job. 

2.  After sampling, you will receive an email to access your results within 4 to 6 days. If you cannot access your results, call 316-660-1022.

• If you have symptoms AND
  • Test results are negative, stay home according to your facility’s policies for general illness. Usually, this is when fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.
  • Test results are positive, stay home, isolated from others, until 72 hours (per KDHE Guidance) after symptoms stop or 10 days after symptoms start – whichever is longer.
• If you do not have symptoms AND
  • Test results are negative, continue with good hygiene and social distancing. Wear a face covering, face mask, or respirator and other personal protective equipment (PPE) as appropriate for your job.
  • Test results are positive, stay home, isolated from others, until 10 days after test date. 

3.  Long-term care facility staff should be tested:

• When they have symptoms.
• If any contact occurs with someone testing positive for COVID-19 (including 48 hours before symptoms onset) when staff does not wear a mask or respirator.
• When COVID-19 transmission occurs in the facility.
• CMS licensed long-term care facilities follow CMS guidelines for COVID-19 testing and reporting.
• KDADS-licensed adult care homes follow Executive Order 20-69 for COVID-19 testing and documenting.

4.  Patient samples obtained by the Health Department are for a molecular virus test that detects coronavirus particles in a person’s body. This is not an antibody test that tests for immunity.

• People with no symptoms could test negative or positive. They could not be infected (negative test), be infected without symptoms (positive test), or have a virus level too low for the test to detect (false negative test).
• The virus test is for a point in time. A person can be negative on one day but a later test may be positive.  

5.  If an exposure to a confirmed COVID case occurs, healthcare workers are in quarantine for 7 days (with a negative test on or after day 6) or 10 days (without testing) from last exposure to a COVID-19 case. They are tested by their healthcare provider or by visiting the walk-in/bike-in K-State Research and Extension Center, 7001 W 21st St North, Wichita from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 – 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. No appointment needed. First come, first serve.

• Front-line workers may work during quarantine if asymptomatic as long as appropriate PPE and other precautions are taken, including:

  • Healthcare workers, including those working in hospitals, clinics, long-term care, hospice, and home health
  • First responders (EMS, Fire)
  • Law enforcement
  • Direct Support Professionals
  • People working in residential living facilities, such as detention facility workers, group homes, residential schools
  • Persons working in in-person classrooms of preK to 12th grade students
    • If asymptomatic and working, testing should be done every seven days (weekly). Employees must monitor for symptoms twice per day, even if testing is negative. Quarantine continues for 7 days if testing is negative or 10 days without testing.
    • If symptoms develop, the employee cannot be at work and must be tested.
    • If an employee does not work, they should be tested seven days after exposure to increase the likelihood of the test detecting the virus if the person is infected. Quarantine continues for 7 days if testing is negative or 10 days without testing.

6.  Symptoms of COVID-19 can include one or more of the following: fever, cough, recent decrease in the ability to breathe, upper respiratory symptoms (congestion, runny nose), chills or shivering, tiredness, muscle or body aches, headache, sore throat, sudden loss of smell or taste, diarrhea without a known cause.

• COVID-19 symptoms are a new symptom or an increase in severity of something that a person normally experiences.
• COVID-19 should be considered when a person experiences these symptoms outside of their normal. For example, a person who has allergies with a runny nose every spring would not consider a runny nose a COVID-19 symptom without any other outside-of-normal symptoms. 

7.  Be aware that older adults can show atypical COVID-19 symptoms. It is important to recognize any symptoms that could indicate coronavirus infection and to test right away.

• Older adults infected with coronavirus may not have fever.
• They may display headache, diarrhea, loss of smell and/or taste, confusion, sore throat, or runny nose.
• Respiratory symptoms, if they occur, may be delayed.