Colorado dental practice temporarily shuts down after two employees contract COVID-19

Dillon, Colo.-based dental practice Innovative Family Dental has temporarily closed its doors after two of its staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

One employee received positive test results June 26, leading the practice to temporarily close. Since then, another employee has tested positive, but none of the practice's patients have.

The Summit County Public Health Department and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are investigating the outbreak and tracing the infected employee's close contacts. The county department discovered that some of the infected employees had been sharing a break room and is working with the practice to develop break room sanitation guidelines.

"We can expect to continue to see small outbreaks like this as we take steps forward to reopen our economy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic," Summit Public Health Director Amy Wineland, MSN, RN, said in a June 30 news release. "Close collaboration with the ownership of the practice, and proactive measures on their part, along with our contact tracing process enabled us to identify positive cases early on and contain spread from this outbreak."

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