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JAKARTA: In July, credit analyst Budi Wardiman returned to work at his office in Jakarta, having worked from home for nearly three months due to a partial shutdown that was imposed in the capital to break the chain of COVID-infection. 19.
The first round of restrictions was implemented on April 10 and lifted in early June as Jakarta saw a decline in cases. Most of the companies were allowed to reopen.
But about 10 days after Wardiman, not his real name, and his colleagues returned to work in his office, two of his coworkers tested positive for COVID-19.
All staff at the bank where Wardiman worked had to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Another five also tested positive.
In early September, a total of 18 people at the bank’s Jakarta branch tested positive, while another 23 working at the bank’s South Tangerang branch outside Jakarta also have COVID-19.
Wardiman said they actually implemented some health protocols, like having a safe sitting distance and each cubicle with a partition.
“But one flaw is that the air conditioning is still centralized and the rooms lack air circulation.
“We also suspect that the elevator is a transmission medium,” Wardiman told CNA.
A health agency official takes a mucus sample for COVID-19 from a traveler at a train station in Bekasi, West Java, on May 5, 2020 (Photo: AFP / Khairul Basyar).
Wardiman’s account is just one of many cases in Jakarta and the surrounding satellite cities where workplaces have been the focus of COVID-19 clusters after the first round of restrictions was eased.
In the Bekasi regency east of Jakarta, there have been at least five known large clusters of COVID-19 in industrial areas.
Cases have been detected in factories of large multinational corporations, including Unilever Indonesia, LG Electronics and Hitachi. These groups in Bekasi alone account for more than 500 COVID-19 cases.
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As the total number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia surpassed the 200,000 mark, Jakarta City Governor Anies Bawedan announced on Wednesday (September 9) that large-scale social restrictions will be re-imposed.
Why have workplaces been the focus of the new COVID-19 clusters?
Experts say there are several reasons for this, including the way the companies could have resumed operations prematurely in June, as well as meetings and meetings at the workplace.
THE EXPERT SAYS THE COMPANIES WERE REOPENED EARLY
Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia believes the companies reopened prematurely after restrictions were relaxed.
“There was a decrease in COVID-19 cases, but there were still many,” Riono told CNA.
“In other countries, they wait until there are only a handful of cases, then they open business. Here, it happened when there were still hundreds (of new daily cases). “
He also said that some companies did not comply with health protocols regarding allowing employees to resume work in the office.
“They did not want to invest in health,” he said, adding that some may not have taken things seriously because there is a lack of control by the government.
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Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Griffith University in Brisbane, added that resuming office work is not simply a matter of implementing health protocols. Things should start with management’s assessment of employees to find out if they are COVID-19 free.
It is also necessary to know the health status of the employees. Employees with a comorbid illness, for example, must work from home, he noted.
Workers in protective suits bury a victim of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Pondok Ranggon cemetery complex in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 8, 2020 in this photo taken by Antara Photo. Antara Photo / Muhammad Adimaja / via REUTERS
MEETINGS, MEETINGS OTHER RISK FACTOR
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the national COVID-19 task force Wiku Adisasmito said that activities that required people to gather in groups could have contributed to the transmission of the disease.
“That’s why when you have meetings or work from the office, it is recommended not to stay in a closed room for too long,” he said during a press conference last month.
Professor Adisasmito also suggested that the clusters could have formed in the neighborhoods of the employees or could have been infected while commuting to work.
“Actually, employees have homes, so of course there are groups in the settlements and they can get it (COVID-19) in their neighborhood or at home or on the way to the office.”
FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective masks and face shields walk in the park amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jakarta, Indonesia, August 22, 2020. REUTERS / Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana
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On Tuesday, the government decided to take additional precautions to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in workplaces.
Professor Adisasmito said that civil servants working in green zones can work from the office, and only a maximum of 75 percent of workers in yellow zones can work from the office.
Furthermore, in government institutions, only half of the employees in the orange zones can go to work and only 25 percent of the employees can work from the office in the red zones.
Red zones are defined by the government as areas where there are many cases of COVID-19 and are considered dangerous. Orange areas and yellow areas are places with few cases of COVID-19, while green areas are places that are believed to be safe, as they have reported small cases of COVID-19.
“The clusters that occur in workplaces could have occurred during lunchtime or while praying, so one should stay away and only remove masks at lunch,” said Professor Adisasmito.
As of Thursday, there were more than 207,000 COVID-19 cases and 8,456 deaths in Indonesia, one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE: A BETTER STRATEGY IS NEEDED
Starting next Monday, Jakarta will once again have large-scale social restrictions amid a continued rise in the number of daily infections and an increase in the hospital bed occupancy rate.
Citizens will be required to work from home, study from home, and worship from home. Only 11 essential businesses can operate from your premises.
Passengers wearing protective masks and face shields queue for a public bus, following the COVID-19 outbreak, at a central bus point in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 27, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Willy Kurniawan).
Riono warned that the restrictions should not be violated, unlike the previous round where there were anecdotal accounts of people breaking the rules.
He also stated that better strategies are needed to contain the spread of COVID-19 in industrial areas.
For more effective law enforcement, closer coordination is needed between the central government and municipal authorities, he said.
He also stressed that public education must be improved, as some believe they cannot contract COVID-19.
READ: Contact trackers in Indonesia face threats and assaults in the fight against COVID-19
Going one step further, Budiman said education is not enough.
He said employers who require their staff to work from the office should regularly test for COVID-19.
They must also implement other measures in addition to the standard health protocols known in Indonesia: wear a mask, safely distance themselves, and wash their hands regularly.
For example, there should be guards to ensure that there are not too many people in the bathroom at the same time, he said.
Businesses that are still allowed to operate need to make sure they have the best ventilation, such as using air conditioners with high-efficiency particulate arrest (HEPA) air filters or replacing systems that are activated by fingerprints.
Within the broader community, what is needed is a more aggressive test-and-trace approach, something Indonesia lags far behind compared to other developing countries, Budiman added.
In the meantime, Mr. Wardiman, the credit analyst doesn’t have much choice but to continue working from his office, as banks are classified as essential services.
“I’m actually scared, but there’s nothing I can do other than try to implement strict health protocols like always wearing extra clothes to change into at the office and carrying hand sanitizer to disinfect things.
“I hope that this COVID-19 pandemic is over soon and that everyone is disciplined in following health protocols because I see many people in public transport who do not wear their masks correctly or are too close to each other.”
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