A Public Health Economist, Nana Kofi Kwakye has said that if one employee tests positive for Covid-19 in a company the firm should close its facility.
The Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanteng had said at a press briefing yesterday that, any employee who is coughing mildly or having a cold should not be allowed to work.
The Health Economist indicates that companies should close completely, test and wait for the results of their employees before they resume work at their facilities.
“I think generally speaking, if you are able to detect one person who is infected and have come to work at any point in the time after they were infected, you really have to close the facility until you have done complete testing and until you have all the results.”
According to him, the rationale behind this is that, the earlier believe in using contact tracing mechanisms to trace employees who have tested positive for the virus is not yielding much results because of the detection of airborne transmission in enclosed facilities.
“The reason for that is basically that, a lot of the initial thinking was that we could use just contact tracing within organization to predict who gets tested. What the emerging consensus is, though is that, quite clearly, there is some amount of airborne transmission in enclosed places of COVID-19. So contact based testing is really not practical in that sense because the risk of exposure in those kind of enclosed places is pretty universal.”
He added that, “it makes sense to close down the facilities to make sure that we do all the testing and in the period that the facility is closed, you do some fumigation to make sure that whatever viral particles may have settled on surfaces or might be suspended in the air are all dealt” with.
Mr Kwakye believes these mechanisms should be added to the protocols and backed by “law.”
“Because if you leave to companies’ individual discretion, the motivation between health and profit, you can imagine how that goes. It’s necessary to make sure that people aren’t coming in when there is a risk that they might get exposed or where their status in terms of COVID-19 is not known because, again at this time, we really can’t afford those kind of mistakes on the margin.”
According to him, “We need to be rather conservative in our approach and make sure that we are reducing all the risks… to make sure that the risk of further transmission is absolutely zero.”
Work Virtually if possible
The Minister of Trade and Industry in his press briefing pointed out that, companies should “use online conference platforms” to conduct business and at places where same is not feasible the laid down protocols must be adhered to.
“If unavoidable, sitting arrangements should follow social distancing protocols. And then employers should allow staff to work virtually if possible. Obviously, with most industrial establishments you need to be on the shop floor but particularly for administrative staff it should be possible for you to work virtually.”
He announced that factories whose employees exceed 29 must employ a “registered nurse on site.”
He emphatically stated that if any “Industries are not practicing these measures they are required to practice these measures now.”
Sacrifice
The Public Health Economist, Mr Kwakye, entreated the population to note that, “the reality is that… the state is having significant challenges curtailing the virus” and as such “we really have to have a public minded psychology in our work places and in each of us.” He therefore urged the general public to learn how to “sacrifice” for the greater good during this challenging times.
