By Sarah Krouse
Covid-19 testing regimes are taking hold at big companies as
they try to get back to business and prevent outbreaks on the
job.
Employees at Smithfield Foods Inc., Ford Motor Co. and
UnitedHealth Group Inc. have begun reporting to tents and clinics
or getting kits in the mail for coronavirus testing. The tests,
combined with mandatory face masks and social-distancing practices
on the job, are intended to protect staff and provide managers with
a real-time sense of the virus's presence in their ranks.
Yet long waits for results -- up to 72 hours -- and an uncertain
timetable for when rapid-result testing will reach most workplaces,
mean that companies' grasp on workers' health remains imperfect at
best, even with costly testing.
Employers are puzzling over whom to test, and how often,
particularly given that tests typically cost $100 or more each.
Companies should test enough to catch problems early, but not so
often that logistics outweigh the benefits, said Raj Behal, chief
quality officer at primary-care chain One Medical, which counted
Google Inc. among its prepandemic clients. He advises clients to
consider the size of a worker population, and whether workers must
be near others on the job.
Businesses that stayed open during the pandemic mainly focused
testing on sick workers and sites with outbreaks. Now more
companies plan to regularly test asymptomatic workers, corporate
medical consultants say.
Meat processor Smithfield Foods offers free coronavirus tests to
all of its workers on a continuing, voluntary basis, and strongly
encourages them to take advantage of the testing, a spokesman said
-- an attempt to catch and quickly isolate infected personnel.
Smithfield had to close plants in several states last month after
outbreaks among its workers.
Testing is only one part of keeping a safe workplace, said
Daniel Castillo, chief medical officer at Matrix Medical Network, a
mobile health-care company conducting testing for symptomatic and
asymptomatic workers at Tyson Foods Inc. Tyson has conducted mass
testing at several plants, and in some cases more than half of
those who tested positive had no symptoms.
"It's about mitigating risk. It has to be combined with personal
protective equipment, distancing and behavioral changes," Dr.
Castillo said.
Employers are limited in what they can ask about workers' health
or living situations, though more are using apps and surveys to
track symptoms -- introducing a tricky dance between privacy and
workplace safety.
Charlottesville, Va.-based Tiger Fuel Co. will begin asking
employees to respond to health questions via an app from
health-care technology company Rimidi Inc.
"It goes exactly against the professional training all of us
have had" to respect employee privacy, said Ryan Whitlock, Tiger
Fuel's human-resources director, adding that health questions once
deemed too intrusive are now necessary for workplace safety.
UnitedHealth and Microsoft Corp. jointly developed an app that
checks worker symptoms and gives a go-ahead to report to work. The
app, which Microsoft has said it plans to deploy for its U.S.
workforce, tracks individuals' health and orders testing if
warranted.
UnitedHealth, which has implemented the app with some of its
employees, is now mailing at-home test kits to its nurses as they
resume making house calls so that they can take tests if the app
suggests they do so.
The moves toward testing span industries. Walmart Inc. Chief
Executive Doug McMillon has said the retailer is pursuing testing
for its employees, including tests that detect whether a person has
been exposed to the virus.
Ford is one of several auto makers that has joined with medical
centers to provide testing for symptomatic workers.
Verizon Communications Inc. will reopen offices in July without
tests, citing privacy and test-accuracy concerns. Employees who
wish to return will complete symptom checks and agree to abide by
new worksite protocols; workplace capacity will be limited to
25%.
"Mandatory testing to come into the workplace is fraught with a
whole other set of challenges," said Christy Pambianchi, Verizon's
HR chief, adding that the company continues to evaluate its
protocols and the merits of testing.
Many companies say the ideal would be rapid-result testing that
could give employees an all-clear before entering work each day.
Diagnostic-testing companies Abbott Laboratories and Cepheid both
have machines that can deliver test results in 45 minutes or less,
but they are primarily selling those devices to the health-care
system.
Businesses and sports leagues have contacted those companies
about accessing their systems, though the Food and Drug
Administration instructed testing executives on an April call to
prioritize health-care organizations, a person on the call said.
After health care, the agency urged companies to focus on
food-industry workers.
Regulators recently approved a different rapid diagnostic test
-- one that detects parts of proteins on the virus -- that returns
results in 15 minutes. The maker of the test, Quidel Corp., has
already heard from Hollywood studios, a pro-wrestling league, and
other businesses interested in using the test, Chief Executive
Douglas Bryant said.
Life-sciences technology company 10x Genomics Inc. has been
administering weekly Covid-19 diagnostic tests for about 180
research, manufacturing and other employees. Employees report to a
tent at its Pleasanton, Calif., offices to be swabbed; they
self-report results, which arrive two to three days later.
Testing is voluntary, said co-founder Ben Hindson, and the few
employees who have declined aren't allowed to enter the office but
can work remotely.
No employees have tested positive yet, but Mr. Hindson said the
$200 tests are worth the price, adding that he plans to continue
testing until a vaccine is available.
"When you think about it in the grand scheme of things, the
benefit far outweighs that few hundred dollars by a huge factor,"
he said.
Hannah Yuan was one of the earliest 10x Genomics employees to be
tested. The senior director of manufacturing said she was anxious
at first, but the tests have quelled her concerns about safety at
work.
"I'll just hold my breath and see how it goes,'" she said of her
attitude before her first test.
Faculty and staff at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta who
wish to return to campus, which reopened last week, must be tested
for the virus. The university has detected three asymptomatic
people with Covid-19 out of the 850 people tested so far.
Morehouse School of Medicine President Valerie Montgomery Rice
said she is aware that tests offer a snapshot of a moment in time,
but said the practice gives students and staff confidence in the
institution.
"That action empowers you to know your status, to be able to
protect yourself and your family," she said. "It also provides a
level of confidence that you are contributing to the reintegration
of society and our economy."
Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024