Employers should have strict policies in place at their businesses to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, on Wednesday.
During his daily COVID-19 update, Anthony stated that there are a few things that can be done to ensure that the workplace is relatively safe and COVID-19 free, including proper ventilation to allow for the free flow of air within the building. He said there should to be some form of screening when employees enter the building. “One such thing would be to make sure that people are fully vaccinated and now also it would be more important for you [the employer] to check to see whether or not they [the employees] have booster [vaccine] doses because that is very important,” he said.
Minister Anthony noted that most persons have become relaxed despite the need for mandatory mask wearing as well as sanitizing. “…Because they are familiar with each other in the work place, they tend to remove their masks, so they’re not wearing masks in the workplace and therefore they can get infected because they don’t know where the coworker would have been and whether that coworker would have been exposed,” the minister said.
He also alluded to one scenario, where when one employee tests positive for the virus, everyone tends to panic and all want to be tested at the same time. To prevent this, he advised that employers would need to implement strict policies to prevent the spread of the infection within the workplace, if this has not been done as yet.
