News
No New GRTC COVID-19 Cases After On-Site Testing Monday
June 11, 2020
Press Releases
For Immediate Release
June 11, 2020
For more information, contact:
CARRIE ROSE PACE – (804) 516-4148 – carrie.rosepace@ridegrtc.com
No New GRTC COVID-19 Cases After On-Site Testing Monday
13 total cases since March; more than 140 employees tested this week.
RICHMOND, Va. (June 11, 2020) – On Monday, June 8, GRTC hosted its first voluntary, on-site COVID-19 testing event, conducted by SecureHealth, a regionally owned and operated urgent care provider. Of the 145 employees who were tested, none are positive for COVID-19.
GRTC Chief Executive Officer Julie Timm says, “I am both relieved and incredibly pleased with the on-site testing results this week. These results are highly encouraging that we are keeping the right focus on protecting the health of our staff through pro-active quarantine, higher levels of cleaning, added PPE, and greater social distancing of staff.”
Frequent testing will continue to be an extremely important tool to aid in early detection of COVID-19 in the workforce. The majority of previous GRTC cases reported relatively mild symptoms or none at all when tested for COVID-19 which is why on-site testing is an invaluable tool in screening for asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infections. The next onsite testing event for GRTC staff will be on June 18, 2020.
GRTC continues to encourage individual testing for COVID by staff if they feel sick or believe they have had direct contact with a positive case. Just before the testing event Monday, GRTC received its 13th confirmed staff case of COVID-19. The employee is not believed to be connected to any previous staff cases. The last date Case 13 was on duty was June 5; testing occurred on June 5. Case 13 is currently reporting mild symptoms.
Timm continues, “My thoughts remain with our staff and their loved ones still recovering from COVID-19. We wish them all speedy recoveries.”
All COVID-19 testing, both on-site and elsewhere, continues to be paid for by GRTC on behalf of employees. The 13 cases appear to be largely unrelated to each other and are spread over the past eleven weeks. As GRTC is informed of each potential or confirmed case, all identified staff who may have been in contact with the suspected or confirmed case are notified, quarantined, and tested in accordance with guidance from the Virginia Department of Health. The full list of confirmed cases is available online.
For the most complete and latest GRTC updates during this pandemic, please visit our website.
GRTC is a public service corporation providing mobility services in the Greater Richmond area. GRTC’s current operational budget of $53.9M primarily funds daily mobility operations and vehicle maintenance. GRTC provides more than 9.25 million trips annually.