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Coronavirus case at Bellevue DMV; Employee says they, public should've been told

Posted at 6:34 PM, Jul 07, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-07 19:34:52-04

BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) — One employee at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Bellevue tested positive for the coronavirus in June.

The Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed the case after an employee working in the building brought the case to 3 News Now's attention.

The employee who reached out to 3 News Now said she wishes all employees and the public would have been notified. Instead, she said employees didn't know someone near them had tested positive until after that individual returned from quarantine.

"Our policy with an individual’s personal health information is that the department will not share that information with other teammates; however, the individual is free to share their personal health information as they see fit," wrote Adam Eakin of the DMV in a statement. "In terms of notifying members of the public, no notification was made by the DMV. As we are not experts in determining the risk of exposure, our policy has been to take direction from the relevant public health department as part of their contact tracing efforts. In this instance, the public health department did not contact the DMV to ask for a list of customers who were processed by the individual. We would of course cooperate with any public health agency to share information needed for notification purposes."

The employee didn't feel well on June 18, and didn't report to work. They are a driving examiner, but didn't do any tests in the five days leading up to feeling unwell.

The employee did work the counter on June 17, however, the day before they began feeling unwell. That day, the employee's temperature was taken before they worked, and it was normal, Eakin said.

"The examiner worked one of our counters that week where social distance markings are in place, i.e. there is a mark on the floor where customers are required to stand in order to maintain an appropriate distance away from the examiner," Eakin wrote. "In addition, the examiner is required to wear a face mask during the entire transaction. All of our workstations are sanitized between each customer, and at the start and end of each day. Common areas are also sanitized multiple times throughout the day."