About COVID-19 Screening & Testing

MultiCare Occupational Medicine provides three screening & testing services for employers to support restarting employment and our economy. These can be useful for employers to minimize the risk of COVID-19 exposure at work, so long as the employer and employee are aware of their limitations. There are no screening or test tools currently available which guarantee an employee will not spread COVID-19 at work.
If you decide to use one or more of these tools, we hope to be your provider. But regardless where you source the services, we want you to have the facts needed for an informed decision.

Symptom & Temperature Screen:
The medical provider relies on patient-provided symptom answers and a temperature reading to determine if symptoms are of concern or not. This screen is not indicative of past exposure, nor a guarantee the individual is not infected or a contagious carrier of the virus.

Antibody Serology Test:
Positive result:

• Indicates previous or current infection. A positive antibody test cannot distinguish between active or past COVID-19. If there is concern for active infection, molecular testing (PCR) is recommended.
• At this time, it is not known whether the presence of antibodies confers protection from reinfection with COVID-19, how long the antibody response lasts, or the association between antibody response and clinical outcomes of individuals with COVID-19
• A positive test does not prove the individual is not contagious. Social distancing is still recommended

Negative result:

• Indicates either
  The individual has not been infected with COVID-19, or
  There is not a detectable level of antibody present. Explanations for this may include very recent exposure (not enough time has elapsed to generate an immune response) or the immune response has decreased below the detectable level.
• A negative result does not rule out current or past infection with COVID-19, as antibodies may not develop until 14 days after onset of symptoms. That is, “false negatives” are possible. Social distancing is still recommended.

CDC guidelines on Antibody testing:


PCR Nasopharyngeal Test:
Positive result:

• Indicates the virus is present in the sample. The individual may be pre-symptomatic (they will develop an active infection), already have an active infection, or are a carrier of the virus.​

​Negative result:

• Indicates the virus was not found in the specimen, however false negatives have been reported with early stage infected individuals.

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Antibody Serology Test:
All these services are “snapshots in time.” The individual may be exposed and infected after the service is performed.

For questions, more information or to enroll for services:
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Tel: 888-580-5513 opt 1
email: occmed@multicare.org
web: www.multicareoccmed.org