People asked to self isolate will make “very important contribution to you, your family and the lives of other people in Wales”

The First Minister has called on employers to support their staff as the contact tracing system starts up in Wales, with some people potentially being asked to self isolate several times in the coming months.

Anyone who has a positive coronavirus test result will be contacted by a team of contact tracers and asked for details of everyone they have had close contact with while they have had symptoms.

Close contact means anyone:

• They have been within 1m of and had a face-to-face-conversation, had skin-to-skin contact with or have coughed on, or been in other forms of contact with for a minute or longer;
• They have been within 2m of for more than 15 minutes
• They have travelled in a vehicle with or sat near on public transport.

All these close contacts will be followed up and will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days as a precaution to prevent the virus spreading further.

We noted that the First Minister Mark Drakeford had told us that the self isolation element of the new contact tracing was ‘voluntary’, and there would be no enforcement, rather the expectation that the people of Wales would do the right thing. In a new set of guidance FAQ’s there was no mention on what would happen to those self isolating in terms of employment or support, or what an employer should do if a member of staff had to self isolate several times.

We pointed out that people could be off work for several weeks due to no fault of their own, and asked what’s his message to them and employers would be, and asked what support is there for them from Welsh Government to help people to do the right thing.

The First Minister told us, “Our message to employers, and we put out particular advice for employers today, is that we need you to support your workers. We need you to support your workforce. This is a bumpy business and there will be some places where people may be asked more than once to self isolate for 14 days.”

“I understand that that can have an impact in the workplace, but it is a much less serious impact than having somebody who is tested positive for coronavirus in your workplace, spreading that disease to to other people.”

“So we do rely on the cooperation of employers supporting their workers in this situation, because disruptive as it can be to have people in self isolation, it is a good deal less disruptive than the alternative, which is to have your workforce subject to accelerated rates of the disease itself.”

“That’s why we are having to ask people to help us with this system, and it will have a disruptive effect on some people’s lives but by doing it, by complying with what we’re being asked to do, we are each one of us making our individual contribution to that big collective effort we’ve made in Wales.”

“It is a different contribution as we move into a world where the lockdown is being lifted, but it is a vitally important contribution. If you as an individual are asked to do it, you are making that very important contribution to protecting your circumstances, your family circumstances, but the lives of other people in Wales as well.”