Ag facility in Adams County does mass COVID-19 testing

RITZVILLE — An ag facility in Adams County tested all of its employees over the Fourth of July weekend, according to Karen Potts, community health director of the Adams County Health Department. The facility has had three unrelated COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks.

Potts said the state definition of an outbreak in a facility is two or more cases in a 14-day period. Because the cases were not in any one group of workers or one shift, but from community spread, the facility decided to do a mass testing of all employees.

“The concern was that it could spread at work,” Potts said. “They decided to test everyone and be safe.”

This is not the first business that has made the decision to test all of its employees. The Adams County Health Department has worked with several different businesses to determine the amount of testing they need for their employees.

“While workplaces don’t have control over what employees do outside (of work), the fear is once it gets in, it is going to spread like crazy,” Potts said.

Potts said that the facility, which she was not authorized to name, did have “many good protections in place.” Due to the fact that the positive cases were in various places of the facility, the facility “made the decisions to take it to the max.”

It is not known at this time how many other employees have COVID-19, as the test results are still coming in.