Sending people back to work without testing them is a big mistake

The South African government is making an error by sending people back to work without testing them.

The protocol of screening and testing only those who have symptoms is inadequate for economic re-engagement.

There are many people who are positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus, yet they are asymptomatic and infectious. Asymptomatic means no high temperature either, so employees are going to go back to work and infect negative workers, who then go home to infect their families.

Our simple argument is that no one should be allowed to go to the workplace. No one should be allowed back at work without a negative test.

We only have 11 million people in formal employment, so start with this group and test everyone aggressively before they go back to work.

Assuming that tests cost R1 000 each, rigorous testing would add up to an R11 billion cheque.

Government allocated R40 billion to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to pay workers not to go to work, only because we don’t want them to go back to work and infect or get infected. Diverting a portion of that expenditure to testing eliminates that risk.

R11 billion is a pittance when compared with the guarantee of not having returning employees getting infected or infecting others.

By testing, government would ensure that South Africa jumps through the loops of the proposed lockdown levels much more smoothly and that the economy gets reactivated in a sustainable way and removes millions from the UIF benefit queue, not only saving the government billions of unnecessary expenditure, but also restoring the tax base and revenue loss by SA Revenue Service.

Additionally, it would remove many businesses from claiming relief measures.

Workplaces as well as transport to and from home should be disinfected and sanitised, while taxis, e-hailing and bus drivers must all test negative before they drive any worker.

If we do this, we can reactivate the economy without worrying about risk levels that have so many unknowns, which could spell an unmanageable crisis. Using levels to manage the Covid-19 means you end up going backwards and forwards and are likely to regress to level 5 for the bigger period of the lock down.

This lockdown cannot have a timeline; only the virus will set the timeline. There is no cure and there is no vaccine yet. Even the period of 18 months to get to a vaccine is unprecedented and not guaranteed.

National Treasury says we will lose 7 million jobs owing to the lockdown, which portends significant social and political instability risk.

Government will not be able to sustain its already woefully inadequate relief measures over a longer lockdown period without risking economic collapse.

Testing, not just screening should be at the centre of economic re-engagement. This is what the debate should be about.

*Alan Mukoki is chief executive of the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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