This July, the FDA issued a warning letter for clinical labs and health care providers over COVID-19 tests that are said to be at high risk for false positive results. Additionally, there have been false negatives that make COVID-19 infected regions appear safer. As organizations begin integrating employees back into the office and establishing business travel routines, there becomes a glaring importance for accurate testing. How can an organization feel confident about their investments for a safer environment and, consequently, the well-being of their employees?
What is a False Positive and False Negative?
There are two types of inaccurate results related to COVID-19 testing: false positives and false negatives.
● False Positives – when COVID-19 test results indicate that a person IS infected with the Coronavirus when in fact they aren’t
● False Negatives – when COVID-19 test results indicate that a person is NOT infected with the Coronavirus when in fact they are
This inaccuracy can cause a wide range of issues when it comes to business traveler planning and welcoming students back to campus, this fall.
How Inaccurate Test Results Impact Business Travel and Education
Organizations that rely on travelling employees often supplement travel plans with Duty of Care planning. Creating a comprehensive Duty of Care plan includes understanding the environment where you’re sending employees. For example, if a country like China is reporting inaccurate test results (either from False Positives/Negatives or intentionally), your organization’s Duty of Care plan will understandably have gaps.
As we’ve seen with the recent announcement from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, school presidents are following COVID-19 case reports to balance the benefits and risks of having students return on campus. False Positives and False Negatives sway these reports by making the student body look more or less risk averse to COVID-19.
How Riskovery Can Help
Riskovery Solutions helps support organizations and Universities in three vectors: Intel and Investigation, Travel Risk Management, and with OpenPass.
Intel and Investigation
Riskovery compliments your Duty of Care planning with our detailed site surveys pertaining to COVID-19, logistical supply chain and transportation options, market potential, project viability, and regional COVID-19 analysis. This thorough planning can ultimately reduce organization liability, bad PR and employee risk.
Travel Risk Management
Our Travel Risk Management solution allows employees to communicate seamlessly with Riskovery. In the event that there is an emergency (i.e.: the employee begins feeling aggressive COVID-19 symptoms), Riskovery’s Travel Risk Management solution allows for employees to quickly speed dial any emergency number, worldwide. Organizations can also enable a well-being check-in to better understand the welfare of their employees.
OpenPass
Riskovery recognized shortfalls in symptom-checking solutions adopted across the country, such as temperature monitors and gate-pass scanners — which enable COVID-19 positive and asymptomatic to show up in-person and potentially infect others on-site. Being able to detect the presence of COVID-19 prior to arrival has been the key imperative in automating wearable technology to effectively inform large organizations of risks and keep community members safe. Riskovery’s OpenPass solution is a wearable ring that relies on built-in sensors to monitor body temperature, heart rate, and oxygen saturation in blood. This enables your organization to monitor and predict COVID-19 symptoms with over 90% accuracy and get as close to “all clear” as science allows, short of having a test taken after every human interaction. Being able to monitor employees or students before/after a COVID-19 test helps reduce the chance of a false positive or negative.
About Riskovery
Riskovery offers the industry’s leading technology and risk-mitigation solutions to help you navigate personnel, crisis-response, and COVID-19 security. Experts in predictive analytics and business continuity management – contact us to help your organization adopt a safe and effective operational model.
For more information, please visit https://www.riskoverysolutions.com or email contact@riskoverysolutions.com.