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Businesses that are operational during this Covid-19-induced shutdown period have a huge responsibility to ensure that employees are safe from contracting the virus at all times.

The partial lockdown, which was recently downgraded to level two, entails that all workers be screened to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Government has, however, allowed companies to reopen without mandatory Covid-19 testing of employees as stipulated in Statutory Instrument 99 of 2020.

Companies have been allowed to open without employees being immediately tested, subject to adhering to other conditions, which include temperature tests and hand sanitisers for workers.

Employees are also supposed to wear a face mask in appropriate form and practise social distancing in the work place.

These are noble measures that ensure the economy keeps going while workers remain protected.

However, a new threat has emerged whereby businesses are using workers to put clients at risk.

In a story we carried yesterday, we warned that wearing latex gloves when serving members of the public is dangerous as the virus can last up to eight hours on the gloves.

Medical experts have said latex gloves should be used by people who have the capacity to put on a fresh pair after every customer they serve. This is why doctors, for example, change gloves after dealing with each patient.

If doctors were to use the same gloves on every patient then they would pass on different diseases.

As experts explained in our story, the greatest danger comes from the false feeling of security one has when wearing latex gloves. For example, if a person touches Covid-19 infected surfaces with the gloves, they can infect themselves when they touch their face.

They can also leave the virus on their phone if they reach for it in their pockets and they may give that same phone to their children or spread the contagion to other family members. Experts have said frequently washing hands with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitiser, is better than wearing gloves to protect oneself from the virus.

The risk in wearing gloves when serving customers can be seen at grocery till points, tollgates, fuel stations, pharmacies and other companies where workers handle the customer’s bank card and pass on the swipe machine.

Pharmacies in particular must be at the forefront of disseminating correct information on the spread of Covid-19. Workers at pharmacies must also be able to change their gloves after serving every customer as they are major suppliers of gloves in the first place.

But that is only if they insist on wearing gloves instead of washing hands with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitiser. If we all wash our hands, we can still stop the spread of Covid-19.

At tollgates, drivers swiping at each and every plaza get exposed to the virus and can easily touch their own faces or family members.

Government through the Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19 should move in to charge companies that are exposing members of the public to the virus by forcing workers to wear the same pair of gloves over long periods.