Ernest Carter, chief health officer for Prince George's County, speaks during a July 9 press conference on the coronavirus pandemic at the county's Office of Emergency Management in Landover, Maryland. (Rob Roberts/The Washington Informer)
**FILE** Ernest Carter, chief health officer for Prince George's County, speaks during a July 9 press conference on the coronavirus pandemic at the county's Office of Emergency Management in Landover, Maryland. (Rob Roberts/The Washington Informer)

Prince George’s County has mandated all public safety employees take a coronavirus test.

“We are testing all of our public safety employees because they interact with the public on a daily basis,” said Dr. Ernest Carter, the county’s health officer, WTOP reported. “We are taking this proactive step because we know that individuals can be asymptomatic and spread the virus and we want to have a baseline.”

The leaders of the police, fire and EMS, homeland security and corrections departments received notification of the new qualification, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ office told WTOP.

Alsobrooks said last week in an update the county’s overall positivity rate fell from 43 percent in April to just under 7 percent during the last week of June, a development she called “astonishing.”

Despite the promising trend, the county executive’s office said it hasn’t finalized future testing schedules as of yet.

This correspondent is a guest contributor to The Washington Informer.

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