Work breaks spread COVID
As the latest figures show that one in 50 people in Louth have COVID-19, The Department of Public Health NorthEast is urging all staff and essential services that remain open during the Level 5 restrictions to wear face masks in communal areas, such as break rooms, kitchens, changing areas to help prevent COVID-19 transmission among colleagues.
Dr Peter Finnegan, Specialist in Public Health Medicine in the North East said: ‘Our team is managing a number of occurrences of COVID-19 in the workplace, including a number of outbreaks. In some businesses, we are seeing staff congregating at break-time, or employees working in close proximity in poorly ventilated areas, and some not wearing a mask when in close contact with other staff members. This can and does lead to outbreaks.’
‘We are also seeing the use of visors in lieu of masks in workplaces. Visors alone offer less protection to staff and customers, and while they do reduce exposure to droplets to a certain extent if worn properly, cloth masks are far more effective.’
It was also revealed that break rooms have been linked to the spread of COVID-19 as these are often small poorly ventilated spaces.
According to provisional data, there have been 388 COVID-19 cases linked to 57 workplace outbreaks in the North East region thus far. Please note that this data excludes hospitals, nursing homes and long-term residential facilities which each fall under different classifications.
Dr Finnegan said: ‘When colleagues take their mask off and socialise, they are letting their guard down. If you are having your break, that could be 15-30 minutes that you are face to face with someone, talking, chatting and exchanging droplets.’
Dr Augustine Pereira, Director of Public Health North East, said: ‘We need to break some of our break time habits of eating and socialising with others. By keeping communal areas clean and well ventilated, wearing a mask until you are ready to eat, adhering to social distance guidance by keeping 2 metres apart and limiting the number of staff allowed in these areas, we would be limiting further transmission of COVID-19.’
‘ The next layer of mitigation, which may be less obvious, is that we are encouraging colleagues not to be afraid to remind others to put their mask on.’