Perenco employees who tested negative for COVID-19 check into the Tradewinds Hotel in San Fernando on Monday night. Over 50 of their co-workers who tested positive for the virus are now in quarantine at the University of the West Indies’ Debe campus. Photo: Trinidad Guardian

This after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh reportedly intervened in the matter following continuing complaints from workers.

Yesterday evening, 16 more workers who tested positive, along with a French national, were transported to the University of the West Indies’ Debe campus for state quarantine. The French national, however, was taken by ambulance to an undisclosed location.

Over 20 workers who tested negative are also currently being housed at the Tradewinds Hotel in San Fernando for observation for the next 14 days. Guardian Media understands that is a private arrangement between the hotel’s management and Perenco.

Up to last night, a sanitising crew had already sanitised the Teak AC living quarters. Teak AC, according to workers, is connected to Teak Alpha, where the first outbreak which hit 35-plus workers over the weekend occurred. The cleaning crew is expected to return today to complete the exercise.

Guardian Media understands that as the company evacuated the 16 positive workers yesterday, eight people were flown in via helicopter to monitor generators on the platforms until the operations resume.

On Tuesday, the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) sent a letter to Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram, asking him to intervene in the situation.

In the correspondence, BIGWU acting president Mario Als called on the CMO “to investigate and determine whether Perenco has met the required standards to ensure not only the health, safety and well-being of their employees, but also the public at large.”

“We are certain that you can and will appreciate the heightened state of anxiety and stress that this situation is causing amongst the workers and their families and urge and appeal for immediate attention to be paid to the matter,” the letter stated.

Als told the CMO attempts by workers to get information from Perenco had been met with a standard formal response that Ministry of Health guidelines were being followed, “a response that the union and workers consider as being more than sadly wanting, as it in no way allays the fears and concerns of workers and their families for their health and safety amidst the high incidence of COVID-19 cases on Perenco’s platforms.”