Health offices revise COVID procedures

The coalfield-region health departments are being forced to cut back on their COVID-19 investigation and follow-up process because of the ongoing surge in new virus cases.

Departments within the Lenowisco and Cumberland Plateau health districts will no longer provide people with clearance letters to return to work or school following an infection or exposure, according to a Wednesday press release. Also, they will stop providing written communications that exclude people from work or school due to illness or exposure.

“Unfortunately due to the increasing number of cases related to COVID-19, our health departments no longer have the capacity to provide these letters to individuals in the community,” said Allie Phillips, population health manager. “However, we are urging individuals to be mindful and considerate about seeking out clearance letters from other health care providers in the community. As we all know, these providers are also experiencing an increased demand for their clinical services given the current surge in COVID-19 cases and are likely to be just as overwhelmed as we are.”

Employers and school administrators are asked to follow isolation and quarantine guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control to determine when employees or students are able to return:

• QUARANTINE. If you are exposed to a positive case, fully vaccinated and boosted people should wear a mask around others for 10 days. Unvaccinated, unboosted people should quarantine for five days, followed by five days of wearing a mask. Everyone should get tested five days after exposure.

• ISOLATION. If you test positive: A person with no symptoms or mild symptoms that go away after five days can end isolation after five days, followed by five days wearing a mask. People with symptoms, including fever, that don’t go away after five days should stay isolated until symptoms improve.

For more information, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/lenowisco.