Hanover Municipal Corporation hit by coronavirus
Published:Monday | March 29, 2021 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Activities at the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) office in Lucea, Hanover, have been significantly scaled down. According to information reaching The Gleaner, approximately 11 staff members, including the mayor and the chief executive officer, have been advised by the Hanover Health Department (HHD) to go into home quarantine, pending COVID-19 test results.
A little over a week ago it was reported that a senior member of staff had tested positive for coronavirus. David Gardner, CEO at the HMC, told The Gleaner then that he was aware of the staff member testing positive for the virus, but that he was investigating the matter before taking any action.
While attempts to get in touch with Gardner for an update on the matter proved futile, one member of staff at the HMC told The Gleaner that the CEO is at home under home quarantine on the advice of the HHD, which issued home quarantine directives to 11 members of staff.
“About 11 of them had a meeting with the member of staff who had returned the positive COVID-19 test, they were all tested and advised by the HHD to go home on quarantine until the test results are back,” the staff member, who asked that his name not be used, said.
“Mr Gardner, and the mayor and all who was in the meeting have been tested and sent home,” the staff member said.
The Gleaner understands that a deep cleaning and sanitisation exercise was carried out at the building last weekend, but some members of staff are still expressing safety concerns and scepticism as it relates to their continued use of the building.
Over recent weeks, some staff members have been complaining about an air-quality issue inside the building, which has been attributed to mould on the internal walls of the facility.
The Gleaner has been told that an assessment has been done of the mould situation and plans are afoot to fix the problem.