Kaiser Permanente, the primary health care provider for Arapahoe County employees, has agreed that Human Services’ child and adult protective service workers should be reclassified because of their high risk of coronavirus transmission to vulnerable persons. This decision makes these caseworkers, whether or not they’re Kaiser members, eligible for coronavirus testing according to the same protocols as other first responders. The move follows a public appeal for the reclassification amid the pandemic crisis.

Kaiser has set up remote testing sites around Colorado—including at the County’s CentrePoint facility in Aurora—so that symptomatic essential services workers can be quickly assessed. The County applauds this decision and the recognition of these dedicated public servants as being crucial to our human services relief efforts.

“This is a welcome and appropriate change to Kaiser’s COVID testing policy,” said Arapahoe County Chair Nancy Sharpe. “Human Services caseworkers are facing what might be the most challenging period of their careers while continuing to provide crucial services to our most vulnerable residents. It’s only fitting that they have access to timely and thorough testing so they can avoid spreading the virus as much as possible.”