With all the contact tracing and employee screening apps getting so much attention as businesses re-open, what about workplaces? Shouldn’t they, too, be tested? If your workers are all symptom-free, that doesn’t mean your office can’t become contaminated, and we know how quickly this virus can spread. If a doorknob, countertop, or other surface is contaminated, before you know it, your entire staff could become infected.
It’s a situation that could impact just about any type of business, from healthcare facilities to offices, from food service to shopping malls. While cleaning crews are being instructed to follow enhanced cleaning protocols, there’s no guarantee they are following the guidelines. Even if they are, human error could result in an office outbreak.
That’s the challenge Enviral Tech is trying to tackle with its surface testing service. The company has created surface testing kits to collecting and secure samples from four surfaces per kit, which are then sent to the its labs for testing. With its high-sensitivity testing, the company says it is able to produce highly accurate test results within 24 hours of receipt, including the SARS-CoV-2 relative number of viral particles that we detected for each of the surfaces that you sampled.
One thing to note is that the four samples are testing together by default, so companies looking for individual testing need to coordinate with Enviral Tech. That said, a positive result means recent cleaning has not been effective, and all surfaces should be disinfected thoroughly, so not knowing which surface tested positive may not be significant in many cases.
Each kit includes:
- A quick reference card
- A zone information card
- Instruction sheet
- A disinfecting wipe
- A return bag for shipping samples
- Disposable nitrile gloves
- Four collection tubes
- Four surface sampling swabs
The process is fairly straightforward. After putting on the gloves, a swab that has been wiped on a surface is placed in a collection tube, then put into the collection pouch. Once all four samples have been collected, the collection pouch is ready to be sealed and shipped for analysis.
If the tests come back clean, Enviral Tech will provide a Clinically Clean certificate that confirms no COVID-19 virus was detected on the surfaces tested, along with the number of surfaces tested. Companies also received a ‘No Coronavirus Detected” badge for their websites, to assure employees and customers the environment is safe.
Companies can order one-time testing kits, or can sign up for recurring weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly shipments to continue testing their spaces on a regular basis. Enviral Tech also provides kits for testing air samples using an air intake device with fitted filters.
