To avoid a new infection wave among construction workers after the holiday period, almost half of them will be tested for Covid-19.
Businesses received testing vouchers over recent weeks that cover 55% of their employees, which should be sufficient to generate an overview of the situation. The tests are now being conducted over the course of the upcoming three weeks. This means that large parts of construction and sanitation teams still might have to quarantine when all results have finally been assembled. In such cases, businesses need to undergo a restructuring process to maintain operations, which will most certainly be costly.
Michel Reckinger, president of the artisan federation, elaborates: "It was already quite difficult before the collective leave period. If a family member of a worker tests positive, then everybody in proximity of that person on the construction site needs to quarantine as well. This increases our expenses, since productivity decreases drastically while we still have to cover 20% of those salaries, 80% being financed by the government."
All tests remain on voluntary basis, but authorities hope to use the tool to limit and contain further spreading of the virus around construction sites.
