…workers express concerns for their safety
By Svetlana Marshall
Thirty-nine (39) AGM Inc workers have tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), however, the company’s Director of Corporate Relations, Peter Benny, has assured Village Voice News that almost all of those tested positive have since recovered.
On Tuesday, an employee, attached to the company told Village Voice News that workers are concerned for their health and safety. According to him, while the Chinese owned company has implemented a number of measures to prevent and suppress the spread of the virus, it has kept workers in the ‘dark’ about prevalence of the disease on the mine site.
“You are getting information that they are active COVID-19 cases on site but the company is hiding this information,” the worker who asked not to be named said. He said employees are being alerted about the cases from those who have left the mine site, and were tested positive upon their arrival Georgetown.
Another employee, told Village Voice News that information reaching him, suggests that a number of Chinese nationals have contracted the virus along with Guyanese.
When contacted on Wednesday, AGM’s Director of Corporate Relations confirmed that a number of employees have tested positive for the virus, however, he said a large percentage of the 39 positive cases, was detected in the city and not at the mine site.
It was explained that of the 39 positive cases, six were detected on site. “We have had about six cases where employees complained about feeling unwell on site, and we medevac them out and had them tested to determine if they were positive. In most of those cases, they were tested positive and they remain offsite,” Benny explained.
He noted that all of the persons who were in contact with those tested positive, were also medevac out and tested. “Of the six, four were Chinese nationals, and those who were in contact groups with those persons, at least eight or 10 of them were tested positive and they remain outside, and they form part of the 39 persons,” he explained.
However, the company’s Director of Corporate Relations iterated that a large percentage of the 39 cases was detected offsite as a result of the strict COVID-19 protocols that are in place, which include the conduct of rapid testing at the Eugene F. Correira International Airport.
He noted that persons traveling to the Aurora Gold Mine are required to do a Rapid COVID-19 test at the Airport before boarding the plane. “The company provides a service for rapid COVID testing. Every person, every employee, contractor, consultant, whoever is going to site, is tested at the Ogle Airstrip. We have a medical team that does the COVID test, that also test temperature, and the oxygen level,” Benny explained.
He said once a positive case is detected, the infected person is transported in an ambulance from the airport to a private hospital in the city. “When they are tested positive at Ogle, we arrange for them to go to the Davis Memorial Hospital where the CPR COVID test is done to determine if in fact they are positive because the rapid test is not 100 percent,” he further explained.
Once confirmed positive, employees are advised to self-isolate at home.
He noted that those who test negative at the airport are still required to submit a report to the doctors on site, before permission is given for them to resume duty.
“On site, they have to give the report to the medical centre, to our doctors onsite; we have doctors there that work 24 hours and the employees take that certificate, so to speak, to the doctor onsite to show that they have not been tested positive,” he said.
That aside, he said workers are required to adhere to the strict COVD-19 protocols, which are intended to prevent any possible spread of the disease.
“While on site, we practice social distancing and all employees are required to wear their masks at the worksite, at recreational centers, they have to wear their mask. In the dining hall, they practice social distancing, only three persons can site at a table at a time,” he further detained.
Benny told Village Voice that almost all of the persons tested positive have recovered. To date, Guyana has more than 8000 COVID-19 cases.
