A total of 24 staff members of the Dis-Chem branch at Retail Park in Boksburg were tested positive for the coronavirus by Friday afternoon.
Everyone is asymptomatic, says Lizeth Kruger, national clinic manager for Dis-Chem. By the end of the workday on Friday, tests were conducted on a total of 132 staff members.
Kruger said the first positive diagnosis was made on Thursday, April 9. Thereafter, a protocol from the health department was followed whereby all who were in close contact with a positive person were placed in isolation and had to go through a screening process.
“The premises has been professionally cleaned. To be safe and as an additional measure, all staff members were tested and those with symptoms immediately went into self-isolation.
“Three more staff members, who were asymptomatic, were tested positive and were immediately quarantined in the Health Department protocol.”
Everybody was tested again on Thursday and another 20 asymptomatic staff members were tested positive, Kruger says.
The results of the tests were available less than 24 hours later.
The repeated tests are not a requirement of the department, but a step taken by the company as a precaution, she says.
The premises was reopened to the public on Friday with a new staff corps after another professional cleaning session.
All staff members of this branch are still in self-insulation and the branch is staffed by staff members from other Dis-Chem stores.
