It's easy to turn a blind eye to someone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 but is not presenting any symptoms. For instance, "I don't feel sick" may be good enough for a hospital administrator to forgo testing a healthcare worker to ensure they can work their shift and help alleviate an understaffed situation.

However, with COVID-19 cases on the rise (LA county is reporting around 1,500 new cases daily, up 52% from the beginning of November), it is far from prudent for clinics and hospitals to cease testing their workforce — or arbitrarily allow workers to use low-sensitivity rapid antigen home tests that can fail to detect an omicron COVID-19 infection in asymptomatic individuals. Now is not the time to let our guard down.

With 19 Patient Service Centers and 7 laboratories in North America, Flow Health continues to adhere to the CDC's interim guidance for COVID-19 testing and isolation, requiring daily health checks and return to work PCR testing for all employees. High-sensitivity testing is a necessary and critical practice in keeping our workers and patients safe. We've been testing our clinic and lab employees since the pandemic's beginning and will continue until we are confident in the data.

America's healthcare system is at a pivotal moment. We can make short-term sacrifices and break the chain of transmission or face long-term consequences for failing to do our part. Our choices now will influence the direction COVID-19 takes in 2023.

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