Today on two separate occasions I heard people, who I respect their opinions on the subject of Covid-19, indicate that anywhere between 10% and 20% of the people who show no symptons are testing positive for Covid-19. Let those numbers sink in for a minute.
This means that out of every 10 people you see in Kroger’s 1 or 2 have Covid-19. This means that if we open up businesses and do not test every employee prior to coming back to work, 10-20% of the workforce could be walking around infecting others without knowing it.
So the local restaurant who has 20 employees can take the temperature of each employee each day prior to starting work and 2-4 employees who have covid will be allowed to work because they do not show any symptons. Or worse yet, the elementary school that opens in September with 400 students and workers could have 40-80 students or workers in the school who are positive with Covid-19
Since not having symptons does not mean a person doesn’t have Covid-19, it means employers will need to test employees not just once, but on a regular basis. A negative test result today, doesn’t mean that you won’t contract the disease tomorrow and show any symptons.
This is why we need to make sure we have enough tests to significantly increase the amount of people we are testing prior to us opening up businesses and schools. It means we need to have the test kits, and the ability to process the test and get results in a timely manner.
These numbers are scary. It is the reason that leaders who understand them are reluctant to open up our businesses, communities and schools sooner than necessary.