Health District: A negative COVID-19 test is not required to be released from isolation or quarantine

Health District urges employers not to require a negative COVID-19 test to return to work

Nov. 20, 2020. Reno/Sparks, NV – The Washoe County Health District is reminding residents that a negative COVID-19 test is not required to be released from isolation or quarantine.

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services sent out a technical bulletin on Nov. 19, 2020 reaffirming guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that a non-test-based strategy is recommended instead. This direction also indicates that employers should not require employees to get a negative test to return to work. Requiring negative test results not only further strains testing resources, but also may prevent employees from returning to work for weeks or months after they are no longer infectious.

That recommendation of a non-test-based strategy states that the following measures should be met to be released from quarantine/isolation:

• At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared, and
• At least 24 hours have passed since last fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and
• Symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) have improved

More information on isolation and quarantine can be found here.

Other important COVID-19 information that the public should be aware of:

• The Health District only notifies residents of negative COVID-19 test results if they were done at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center. If you got tested elsewhere, the place that tested you will notify you. Do not call the Health District looking for those results.
• The Health District urges people to wait 2-3 days from when they started getting symptoms to get tested for COVID-19.
• Due to high call volume, residents with symptoms of COVID-19 should schedule a test online here (En español aqui) or go to our website for more information about anything COVID-19

The Washoe County Health District is nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board and has jurisdiction over all public health matters in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County through the policy-making Washoe County District Board of Health. The District consists of five divisions: Administrative Health Services, Air Quality Management, Community and Clinical Health Services, Environmental Health Services and Epidemiology & Public Health Preparedness. More info can be found here.