S’pore Company Requires ART Before Entering Office, 20 Employees Test Positive In 1 Day

20 Employees Of Singapore Company Test ART-Positive, Many Are Asymptomatic & Reinfections

Singapore is yet again in the throes of a Covid-19 wave, this time powered by the XBB subvariant of Omicron.

So it may not be surprising that some companies are getting wary and resurrecting an old practice: making their employees take an Antigen Rapid Test (ART) before coming to the office.

Shockingly, though, one local company that did this had 20 employees test positive in just one day.

Before-work ART required for employees since last week

The company in question has about 200 to 300 full-time staff, one of them told Shin Min Daily News.

Since last week, employees were required to take an ART before work, they said.

Only when they tested negative for Covid-19 could they enter the office.

Many of the ART-positive employees asymptomatic

On one of the days, more than 20 employees ended up testing positive.

However, many of the employees who tested positive were asymptomatic, the source said.

They were also second-time reinfections.

Other companies don’t require testing yet

Over at Cloversoft, a company that promotes eco-friendly bamboo paper towels, employees are not yet required to take ART before coming to work.

Founder Angela Sim, however, told Shin Min that she doesn’t rule out making staff do so.

That’s because of the current XBB wave and the fact that many of their employees have gone overseas for work or leisure.

She’s monitoring the situation for now, she added.

Gong Cha (Singapore) CEO Kang Puay Seng struck an optimistic note, saying his employees are all young, vaccinated and have high immunity. They also all wear masks at work.

He’ll closely monitor developments, he said, and follow the Government’s instruction to avoid unnecessarily alarming his employees.

Experts unconvinced that testing is necessary

Infectious disease experts that Shin Min spoke to were unconvinced of the necessity of pre-work testing.

Professor Paul Tambyah, chief of the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, noted that Singapore had earlier required regular Covid-19 testing in many industries.

However, that had limited effects in controlling the number of cases, he said, pointing out that there were more cases that required hospitalisation at the time.

Thus, he doesn’t think there’s a need for mandatory testing for staff at workplaces.

He suggested that shortening the seven-day isolation period would be a better way to ensure companies’ operations aren’t affected by employees who test positive.

Infectious disease specialist Leong Hoe Nam felt that each company should decide whether it’s worth it to require testing, based on their situation.

They could also consider letting employees go back to working from home (WFH), he told Shin Min.

Be responsible for our own health

As XBB circulates in our community, many workers may be reassured to know that their colleagues have tested negative before coming to the office.

However, others may feel that there’s no point for such measures as that doesn’t stop us from getting infected in other places.

Ultimately, life must go on and we’ll just have to be responsible for our own health and take measures to protect ourselves and those around us.

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook.