As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to elevate cases to new highs in Mesa County, COVID-19 testing remains increasingly important, especially for the business community.

Employers know sick employees affect business. Absences due to illness affect productivity and diminish the morale of healthy employees who pick up the resulting slack. One of the best ways to reduce illness at work is to keep sick employees at home — whether they’ve contracted COVID-19 or something else.

Knowing if you’re sick with COVID-19 is now easier than ever with free rapid at-home COVID-19 tests from Mesa County Public Health (MCPH), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and federal government.

MCPH recommends a test if you experience symptoms of COVID-19, including a cough, sore throat, congestion or runny nose. If you come in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, you should test after day five if you don’t have symptoms or at the first sign of symptoms.

Through our outreach and education team, MCPH has provided a total more than 4,000 rapid tests to employers and organizations. In sharing the success of its testing program, one business told us: “We tested all our staff after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. We had one positive out of all of them. We kept operations moving for our patients because we tested.”

Due to high demand, only employers with 10 or more employees may enroll in the business program through MCPH at this time. Those interested in learning more should send an email to communityoutreach@mesacounty.us.

Businesses and organizations with fewer than 10 employees are asked to have their employees enroll individually in testing programs. Businesses and organizations also can contact us to be notified when supplies are more readily available.

If you use an at-home COVID-19 test, report the results online through https://covidbinax.colorado.gov. Once there, create an account and select the test type at-home antigen – self-reported. If you’re unable to report your results online, call MCPH at (970) 248-6900 to report results.

Testing helps MCPH understand COVID-19 positivity trends and enables staff to give isolation instructions to infected individuals. Monitoring data and trends and providing information to the community helps in responding to the pandemic and keeping businesses open. Testing results are used to calculate percent positivity — the percentage of positive results compared to the total tests performed. That metric offers an early warning sign before cases begin to increase.

With the recent omicron surge, the positivity rate in Mesa County has soared to around 20 percent. To see community spread under control, this metric needs to be at or less than 5 percent.

MCPH appreciates the partnership we’ve shared with local businesses as we all continue to battle COVID-19. We’re hopeful this most recent surge will soon peak — and as warmer weather returns, so will the normalcy for which we all long.