After one of Casa Santo António’s employees tested positive for covid-19 this Sunday, the owners decided to pay out of their own pocket to test the company’s employees.
“An employee tested positive on Sunday and from Monday, on his own initiative, we started to take measures, namely to test the workers”, said José António, one of the owners of the company, adding that they tried to call “countless times ”For the covid-19 support line, however, they were told to wait. “We have tried to contact the health line, but they said to wait. Until then, there is time for a lot of people to die, ”he says.
Three days after the start of testing the 150 employees, about a dozen positive cases have already been identified at Casa Santo António, a situation that led the company to close the stores in Pilar, Rua Direita and Rua 5 de Outubro in order to proceed with the disinfection of facilities. “A significant number of positive cases started to appear. So far, there are already about ten and there are still people to test ”, explains the official.
Given the seriousness of the situation, the Madeiran company that marks this year 90 years of existence decided to leave only the Palheiro Ferreiro store open, the remaining three spaces are closed indefinitely.