Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, is calling on employees to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols and measures established at their organisations, in a bid to reduce the transmission of the virus and the number of positive infections.

“I want to appeal to corporate Jamaica…. We have been seeing an increased number of workplace cluster COVID outbreaks. It’s not a cause to be alarmed or to panic, but it demonstrates a need to remind ourselves that we must ensure that our employees observe the protocols while at work,”
he said.

The protocols include the wearing of a mask, maintaining physical distance, the constant cleaning of surfaces and sanitising.
He urged employers to remind their staff of the protocols that they should observe, noting that an increase in the number of positive cases will have an impact on the operations of the company.

“We really want to discourage these clusters; they put your office and work in jeopardy, they slow you down, they increase inefficiencies and, of course, they bring pain and suffering to those who are affected. I want to make that appeal to the population, and in particular to organisations, to manage their affairs internally and remind their staff around those protocols,”
he said.

The protocols surrounding positive cases at organisations include isolating confirmed positive cases, undertaking deep-cleaning exercises, conducting contact tracing and testing, and resuming operations as quickly as possible.

“We have had some within public health, Mandeville Hospital, being the most prominent in the last few days. We have seen the release sent out by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport – a small cluster there – but we have also seen a number of clusters in the private sector, and in Kingston and St Andrew alone there have been some seven organisations with a cluster of positive cases over the past week,”

he said.