Three-quarters of infected Memphis workers remained on the job after testing positive for coronaviru

A study by health officials in Shelby County, Tennessee found that more than three-quarters of infected people during the month of November continued to work at least one day after testing positive. The seat of Shelby County is Memphis, the 28th largest city in the country.

The study was based off interviews with 303 people, all of whom had tested positive for coronavirus. “We want to look at specifically how many days people worked while they potentially were infectious to others,” the Health Department Director for Shelby County, Tennessee, Dr. Alisa Haushalter, said. From this group, 76 percent stated that they continued to go back to work after being diagnosed positive with COVID-19. Of this group, 45 percent worked about one day before quarantining, 29 percent worked for two days and 10 percent worked for three days.

In reporting the study, the Memphis Fox affiliate cited local medical expert Dr. Jon McCullers, who told the station that “[the] data shows that warehouses and factories are the most likely places where employees continue to clock into work even after a day or two from when they contracted the virus.”

According to its official COVID-19 dashboard, Shelby County has had 67,198 positive cases and 891 deaths. The positivity rate in the county is 9.55 percent, indicating that the county’s testing capacity is being stretched beyond its limits. According to a separate report, almost 2,200 COVID-19 contacts have been quarantined due to exposure since December 15. As of August, there were only 1,700 contact tracers for the entire state of Tennessee, according to the state Commissioner of Health.

Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/04/shel-j04.html