Did an employee at Walmart in Bradford test positive for COVID-19, or is it just another rumor?
That question remained unanswered as of Wednesday.
An Era reporter contacted the store Tuesday after a flood of calls and emails from concerned members of the public. Yet all media-related questions were referred to the corporate office, which did not respond either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Government and health officials are unable to provide details about those who test positive.
Nate Wardle, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, explained, “To protect patient privacy, we can’t provide disease specific information about a person or group of people.”
Wardle referred The Era to a worker safety order by the state secretary of health, Dr. Rachel Levine, that provides guidance for businesses.
“This includes information on how to sanitize after a case, which employees should be considered close contacts, etc.,” Wardle said.
The order states that businesses that are authorized to maintain in-person operations establish protocols to follow in the event that the business is exposed to someone who tests positive for the disease.
According to the order, that protocol should include closing off areas visited by the person, ventilating the area, cleaning and screening employees who come in to work, among other tasks. The order outlines which employees are considered close contacts of the one who tested positive.
The order, which is available on Gov. Tom Wolf’s website, does not require the business to notify the public.
McKean County Commissioner Tom Kreiner was not able to provide new insight into where the county’s cases are located. He explained the only information he has access to regarding COVID-19 in the county is from the COVID-19 Data Dashboard on the state Department of Health’s public website.
Kreiner feels optimistic about what the numbers on the dashboard are showing so far, as he has not seen any outbreaks, even small ones, in the county.
“To be honest, I’m kind of encouraged by what we’ve seen,” he said, explaining that local schools and the university are back in session without an upswing in cases.
Kreiner noted that the dashboard currently shows a total of 51 cases — 38 confirmed and 13 probable — that have been in McKean County since the start of the pandemic. He estimated there to be not more than 10 active cases at this time.
“It’s all encouraging. Everything everybody is doing is definitely helping,” Kreiner said.
