After requiring company-financed Covid-19 tests among bank employees, Mayor Benjamin Magalong issued the same call to grocery and department stores in the city.
The mayor’s move was prompted by the reported clustering of cases in one of the grocery stores in the city.
He said that as a result of analytics, he ordered the testing of all employees of said grocery last Aug. 8. Of the 64 workers, 14 tested positive of the infection.
Magalong said this is a warning sign of the disease vulnerability of the said sector, which the city should heed.
Since the city does not have enough resources to test all these workers, it will tap the companies to shoulder the costs.
“Just like what we did with the banks, we will send a letter to all supermarkets and grocery stores requiring management to subject all employees to swab tests at their expense,” the mayor said.
Magalong earlier required banks to subject their personnel to Reverse Transcriptase- Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) after the risk-based expanded testing done by the city found a number of them infected.
The mayor said the banks have been complying, resulting in the discovery of more infections in their ranks which now run to over 30 cases.
Besides the testing requirement, the mayor said the city had also engaged the banks and security agencies in enhancing health and safety protocols and standards for their workers and customers.
The same will be done to department and grocery stores in the city, which will have to review and fine-tune their rules to protect their workers and clients. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
April 27, 2024
