The Balearic Government wants hoteliers to perform PCR and antigen tests on employees to ensure safe work environments. It’s one of the proposals contained in the ‘Safety Pack’ document to promote the Islands as a healthy and secure environment in the Mediterranean.
The plan is to give employees a PCR test, then periodic antigen tests to prevent contagion. The document states that the Tourist Reopening Working Committee has already agreed to allow diagnostic tests to be performed and is now discussing how to do so.
Mutual Societies
One option is to strike agreements with mutual societies or the Health Service, because the tests must be performed by nursing staff, according to Rubén Castro, Director of the Balearic Institute of Occupational Health, or Ibasal.
Some 200,000 people work in the Tourism Sector in the Balearic Islands, directly or indirectly.
"If this proposal is implemented, workers will have additional safety measures this season, which will allow them to work in a safer environment," the document states.
Some companies are already testing workers and the Government wants to reach more companies in the Sector.
One obstacles is the cost of PCR and antigen tests, but Castro points out that the Government has just approved a price limit of €75 for PCRs and €30 for antigen tests.
The test proposal is not a requirement for hoteliers, but Castro is confident that most will join the initiative.
The Government, employers and unions have already agreed a global framework that will regulate how the tests will be developed and the Health Authorities will be notified of positive cases.
Rubén Castro says the Government, employers and unions are working on health and security measures, which will be implemented when the summer season gets underway. Cleaning and security measures applied at Easter have yielded very good results and no outbreaks have been reported in hotels.
"Entrepreneurs took the security measures for the tourist campaign very seriously," said Castro. “There has been some minimal contagion amongst tourists in recent months, but no outbreaks have been detected in hotel workers in Mallorca.