What happens when a business has a positive COVID-19 test in Carson City?

Since COVID-19 entered Carson City and Northern Nevada communities, there have been many questions about how to stay safe, where to get information and how the community is affected.

Frequented areas are going to be likelier incubators for the virus than out in the wilderness, and with the tentative opening of businesses, restaurants and bars in Carson City and beyond, it means more community members will be stopping by.

But what happens if an employee at a business has been exposed, or tested positive? What if multiple employees have tested positive? Does the business have to disclose this to the public?

Currently, the mandate and Nevada's laws do not mean that businesses have to shut down or notify the public in the case of an employee being exposed. In fact, they don’t have to do much of anything by law.

If, however, according to Jessica Rapp from Carson City Health and Human Services (CCHHS), there were a "cluster" of cases, CCHHS would work closely with that business to ensure proper steps are being taken as well as following OSHA’s requirements.

“These steps include a deep cleaning, quarantining possibly exposed employees, keeping sick employees home, etc.” said Rapp. “A business does not have to close if they were exposed, they just have to ensure that they follow our recommendations. If it is a smaller business, they might have to close due to the inability to have non exposed employees fill in for exposed employees.”

CCHHS has a "Disease Investigation and Monitoring Team" which contacts each of the known cases and their contacts daily, said Rapp.

“If an employee were positive, they would be contacted by CCHHS every day for a check in,” said Rapp. “We provide them a letter to give to their employer to release them from work for their disease duration. Once we deem them as recovered and they are able to return to work, we issue them another letter to provide to their employer as a way to prove we have released them.”

A few business in the surrounding region, such as Reno and Lake Tahoe, have recently been called out on social media after failing to tell the public about their staff members testing positive or closing their doors to clean, but according to the law, there’s nothing that specifically mandates they do either.

That doesn’t mean CCHHS has no authority, however. If, for instance, a person refused to isolate after testing positive, or if an employer insisted an employee work despite their positive test, the Nevada Revised Statues allows CCHHS to do a “court ordered, mandatory isolation for an infectious disease,” according to Rapp.

That statute falls under NRS 441A.180: Contagious person to prevent exposure to others which states the following:

    1.  A person who has a communicable disease in an infectious state shall not conduct himself or herself in any manner likely to expose others to the disease or engage in any occupation in which it is likely that the disease will be transmitted to others.
      2.  A health authority who has reason to believe that a person is in violation of subsection 1 shall issue a warning to that person, in writing, informing the person of the behavior which constitutes the violation and of the precautions that the person must take to avoid exposing others to the disease. The warning must be served upon the person by delivering a copy to him or her.
      3.  A person who violates the provisions of subsection 1 after service upon him or her of a warning from a health authority is guilty of a misdemeanor.

In addition, CCHHS would also contact OSHA in this instance, as forcing a contagious employee to work would also put other employees in danger, and therefore OSHA would get involved.

Thankfully, said Rapp, no businesses have been uncooperative in Carson City.

"We have fortunately not had a situation like this; everyone has been compliant and employers are understanding," she said.