Hospo staff asked to test for COVID-19

Workers in the retail, hospitality, and construction sectors in Auckland have been requested to take two COVID-19 tests over the next two weeks as part of surveillance efforts against the pandemic.  Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand's director general of health, made the statement on Tuesday attributing the said request to workers. The request will cover staff who have been permitted to work in Auckland under the Alert Level 3 restrictions.

"The request has been made - not a requirement - but a request of those workers to over the next two weeks, whether you have symptoms or not, to get two tests at least five days apart," said Bloomfield.  "This is part of their surveillance testing and we're particularly interested in those working in construction, hospitality, and retail.”

According to the director general, those who have been tested without any symptoms do not need to isolate while waiting for their test results. They can continue working under the usual alert level 3 precautions in the city.

The scheme comes from the ongoing surveillance testing among essential workers in Auckland. It has tested over 50,000 essential staff over the past two months, according to Bloomfield. However, the latest request from the director general raised concerns in the retail and hospitality sectors, which said surveillance testing is a "ludicrous suggestion" that will result to "additional stress."

"The testing request is a ludicrous suggestion while we operate contactless businesses, suffering from low revenue, and when some businesses cannot even open," said Julie White, Hospitality New Zealand chief executive, in a statement.

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Greg Harford, chief of Retail NZ, added that the request took the retail sector by surprise.

"Level 3 is a difficult environment for retailers to be working in, and many are already receiving significant levels of abuse from customers. This new request for surveillance testing of retail and hospitality workers will lead to additional stress," he said in the statement.

According to Harford, both sectors are already "severely restricted" under Alert Level 3, with only a limited number of stores open to the public. He added that the said curbs from the government already come at a “massive economic cost” for businesses.

"It is just not reasonable to ask every retail worker to undergo testing, and it is not reasonable to expect employers to provide time off for this," he said.

Auckland's COVID-19 restriction was downgraded to Alert Level 3 last week, allowing some businesses to re-open their doors to consumers.