Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Ehaidib
Okaz
It does not matter whether a female student, worker or employee has caught a virus. Those infected can spread the disease everywhere they go.
In a recent statement, Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University stressed that only four Coronavirus cases had been discovered and that they had been dealt with professionally. Those infected were four female cleaners who work for a cleaning company contracted to the university. They live outside the campus and have been referred to a hospital where they have been put in isolation.
Colleagues who intermingled with the four workers were banned from leaving their domicile until they had undergone medical tests proving they were not infected.
However, let us not focus on the fact that the people who contracted the virus were cleaners, not students or university staff. If a student or university employee had contracted the disease, then she would have been placed in quarantine just like the workers.
It makes no difference whether the person is a student or a cleaner. The same precautionary measures would be taken.
Let us focus on the statement itself and the subsequent statement made by the Ministry of Health, which did not mention the name of the cleaning contractor. This means that the company can send more workers who may unknowingly have the disease to other establishments. Perhaps those infected by the disease will be crammed, as usual, in a small room with another group of workers. The virus is bound to spread quickly in such circumstances. Some companies put 12 workers together in the same room.
We should not be surprised that the university withheld the name of the company from the public as neither the ministry nor the Coronavirus Control Center have revealed the company’s name.
Apparently, we are not really serious in our efforts to eliminate Coronavirus from society and put an end to its spread. We tend to forget transparency when the private sector is involved.
