Ward County approves rapid COVID-19 tests for employees
Rapid tests coming for Ward County employees
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Ward County will be requesting BinaxNOW and antibody test kits to begin offering both COVID-19 rapid testing and immunity status testing to county employees.
Ward County Commissioners on Tuesday approved rapid testing after learning the North Dakota Sheriff's Association has purchased the administrative licensing to conduct testing for counties across the state.
Rapid testing especially provides advantages for law enforcement. Officers must be tested before they can transport certain inmates, such as those going to the state prison. Rapid testing would provide information regarding COVID-19 status within 15 minutes rather than waiting days for a standard test result.
Rapid testing also would be used in the jail to quickly assess inmates showing symptoms, Sheriff Robert Roed told commissioners.
"That would give us a better indication than what we have right now," he said. It also would allow for quick testing inmates of the same cell pod who would have had contact with an inmate who tested positive.
Human Resources Director Tammy Terras said the jail has had three testing events, which required bringing in outside individuals with the training to provide the tests and then waiting four or five days for results. By having trained individuals in-house to do rapid tests, the county would be able to more quickly identify asymptomatic carriers and isolate them, she said.
The state has a large quantity of BinaxNow kits that it is making available to entities around the state at no cost.
Ward County Emergency Manager Jennifer Wiechmann said the tests are able to detect infection in someone showing symptoms 86% of the time. The sensitivity is 40% to 60% in someone asymptomatic.
Commissioner John Fjeldahl advocated for antibody testing as well.
"We are hearing from many people who have had no symptoms or very few symptoms and didn't get tested," he said. "Not everybody is comfortable about the reliability of tests they are already doing."
Antibody testing can provide information on a person's immunity status, eliminating the need for routine asymptomatic testing and giving guidance to people uncomfortable with taking the vaccine, he said.
The reliability of antibody testing would need to be confirmed, but Wiechmann cited initial information indicating antibody detection is roughly 73% in people already confirmed to have had COVID-19. Fjeldahl cited another source indicating more than 80% accuracy and possibly higher. Results could depend on the level of antibodies.
Fjeldahl said the antibody test is as accurate as some other tests used to determine infection.
"We are wrong not to use it and it upsets me that we are not going there when it's available," he said.
The commission agreed to visit with the state about obtaining some of the state's available antibody test kits.
The commission also voted to extend COVID-19 paid leave from Dec. 31 to March 31. The policy enables employees to use up to 80 hours of leave for COVID-19 illness or quarantine before using regular sick leave. Of 279 eligible employees, 119 used at least some COVID-19 leave in 2020. Any unused portion carries over to 2021.