CVS hid staff’s COVID-19 case from patients

• A Georgia CVS district leader reportedly forbade staff from informing patients that a coworker had tested positive for COVID-19, according to a leaked email.
• A CVS spokesperson denied this claim but acknowledged that the company allows employees to continue working even after exposure to a positive case.
• The technician who shared the email said that employees faced the threat of disciplinary action or termination if they informed customers about confirmed COVID-19 cases among the staff.

CVS employees were reportedly forbidden by a district leader from informing their patients about a COVID-19 case among the staff, according to a leaked email.

Michael DeAngelis, a spokesperson for CVS, refuted this claim in a statement to Business Insider: “It is not our policy to prohibit our pharmacies from informing patients if their prescription was filled when an employee who tested positive for COVID-19 worked in the pharmacy.”

The email in question was shared with Business Insider by a Georgia CVS technician.

In the email, the district leader instructed the staff to pull prescriptions that were filled by an employee who tested positive for the virus. The employees were forbidden from making “an outreach call” to any patient who had already picked up such a prescription, however.

The technician informed Business Insider, “We were told not to contact anyone or let anyone know.”

They added that anyone who informed customers about the positive COVID-19 case was faced with the threat of disciplinary action or termination.

Several CVS employees have informed Business Insider about the company’s pattern of “bullying” staff and ignoring incidents of potential coronavirus exposure.

Last week, DeAngelis told Business Insider that the company policy allows employees to work even after exposure to a positive case, provided they wear surgical masks, self-monitor symptoms, and check their temperature before and after every shift for 14 days after exposure.

DeAngelis added that the company also allows workers to request time off to quarantine if they were exposed to a coworker who tested positive.

But according to the Georgia technician, the employees who were exposed to the coworker who tested positive were instructed not to get tested “because they couldn’t have anyone else out of work.”

Similar incidents have become common in the workplace, according to a Bloomberg report. Employees are now afraid of punishment or termination if they informed customers about a COVID-19 case among their coworkers.

Epidemiologist David Michaels warned that such gag rules about workplace exposure only further drive the pandemic.

Source: Business Insider