As businesses reopen, Columbia to offer COVID-19 tests for employees, mayor says
The city of Columbia will begin offering coronavirus testing for employees of local businesses, a measure that could help alleviate concerns as the economy begins to reopen from its mandated lockdown.
Mayor Steve Benjamin said testing could begin within days, depending on whether the proposal receives approval from City Council.
“I expect this to come up on Thursday, so we could start as soon as Friday,” Benjamin said.
City officials have not yet identified a testing site, but the mayor said the plan is to operate a drive-through testing site, with a 24-hour turnaround for workers getting results.
The plan is an expansion of a contract the city already has with Greenville-based Precision Genetics to provide testing for city employees and first responders. The $153,000 contract, approved last month, allows the city to expand to “rapid response” community testing when needed.
Benjamin said he sees a need now as the state’s economy begins to reopen. On Monday, restaurants in the capital city began to reopen for outdoor dining services for the first time in more than a month, causing long lines to form in front of some locations and raising fears of a renewed outbreak if social distancing guidelines are not followed.
Benjamin himself raised concerns about people gathering again in public, arguing the state has not seen the sustained deceleration in the number of new cases for 14 days, as recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The data is not there to support the political and the policy decisions,” he said of the lifting of a statewide order prohibiting on-site dining. “I’m afraid it could come at the cost of health and lives.”
Other businesses have opted not to reopen yet, in part due to health concerns.
The mayor said the city has at least 1,000 tests available, including temperature gauges to test whether employees are running a fever. Non-medical-grade face masks may also be distributed.
“This is another tool we have to help businesses, along with CDC guidelines and social distancing in businesses,” Benjamin said.
In recent weeks, hospitals and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control have sought to increase community testing, both to get a better handle on the virus and also to lessen disparities in health coverage and treatment in some harder to reach communities.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 10:03 AM.
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