Pub worker in hospital as eight staff members at Swansea pub test positive for coronavirus
Eight members of staff at a Wetherspoon pub in Swansea have tested positive for coronavirus with one currently in hospital, the company has confirmed in a statement.A total of eight people who worker at the Bank Statement in Wind Street have tested positive with a male member of staff "admitted to hospital with a condition believed to have been caused by Covid-19".He was asymptomatic prior to attending hospital on Tuesday, a spokesman for JD Wetherspoon said.The first affected member of staff tested positive on September 9 and went into self-isolation but since then a further seven staff members have gone on to receive positive test results.After the first member of staff tested positive four co-workers were also asked to self-isolate having been in close contact with that colleague. Two of those staff members then tested positive for the virus.
Two additional members of staff, who had not been in close contact with any of the previous cases, then developed symptoms on September 11 and isolated while awaiting their results, which came back as positive on September 14.This resulted in two further employees being asked to isolate having been in close contact with one of these members of staff.JD Wetherspoon were then notified by a sixth member of staff that they had tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, September 15.As a precaution, in accordance with public health guidelines, three members of staff were identified as being in close contact with the affected employee and have since been asked to self-isolate for 14 days.Close contact is defined as being within two metres of a person who has tested positive for the virus for 15 minutes or more or within one metre for one minute or more.
On Tuesday evening, the spokesman said, another employee was admitted to hospital with a condition believed to have been caused by Covid-19. He was asymptomatic prior to attending hospital.The eighth and final employee tested positive on September 16 but hadn’t worked in the pub since September 4, so there was no requirement for any other members of staff to self-isolate.A spokesman for JD Wetherspoon said: "We understand that seven of the eight employees who tested positive experienced mild symptoms and we wish them well. Our thoughts are with the employee in hospital and we wish them a swift and full recovery."We have been working with Public Health Wales and the local authority with these cases and they have advised that there is a low risk to customers at the pub, who should continue to follow social distancing measures and other recommended control measures including regular hand-washing."