All employees of the county government of Siaya will undertake the Covid-19 test amid reports that several senior officials have been forced into self-isolation.
A memo from the directorate of communications to all staff of the county government said the department of health and sanitation will release testing schedules.
“The department of health and sanitation will intermittently issue testing schedules based on test kit availability to scale up testing among staff in light of potential infection surge” says the Memo dated 7/8/2020 and signed by the acting director of communications, Auscar Odhiambo Wambiya, adding “ultimately, all staff will be tested”.
The memo called on the staff to ignore any rumour relating to the virus spread in the county, saying that they should only rely on official communication from authorized officers from time to time.
It said the County Secretary had issued further guidance on the preventive measures against Covid-19 through the respective county executive committee members. The guidance, it adds, includes revised mode of working and protocols to regulate office appearance by staff among other safety measures in line with the national government protocols.
The memo comes in the wake of reports that senior county government officials, among them governor Cornel Rasanga have been forced into self-isolation after several members of his cabinet tested positive to the virus.
A member of the county executive has since gone public via social media, telling members of a whatsapp group that she was undergoing treatment in Nairobi.
“Hi all. I wish to inform all that I tested Covid 19 positive. I’m currently in isolation ward in Nairobi. I believe that going public will help to make people accept that Corona is real. Let all take precautionary measures to stop the spread,” posted the CEC member.
Last week, several employees of the county government accused their bosses of keeping mum on the outcome of a targeted test amongst the top brass.
The workers lamented that though some of their bosses had tested positive and some even hospitalized, the officials were still behaving normally hence exposing them to infection.
By Philip Onyango
