A staff member who works inside the House of Assembly and the Senate has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the government to shut down Parliament. Employees fear that all Members of Parliament who were in the House of Assembly last Wednesday were exposed and are at risk of also being infected.
It is unclear if all members of parliament who were present in the House last week will be asked to enter self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution.
Parliamentary staff are furious because Chief Clerk David Forbes has said nothing to them about the woman's covid status even though staff members were exposed. They are also upset that there has been no effort to conduct contact tracing thus far.
"All of the staff is up in arms and don't know what's going on. We were exposed to her along with House of Assembly members," according to one insider who said they were not formally informed that the woman was feeling ill or had been tested for Covid-19.
They fear they have also unknowingly put their family members at risk.
"This is crazy. We are furious." said another employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being victimized. They are particularly confirmed for a member of the janitorial staff who suffers from asthma.
They added that the HubCat app, that tracks covid cases who are supposed to be in mandatory quarantine, was not installed on her phone to ensure she does not break quarantine.