Delivery boys may be at high Covid risk: Doctors

BENGALURU: With contact tracing becoming a herculean task due to the rampant spread of the Novel Coronavirus, there may be no saying where or how a person contracted the virus.

Consider this: While undertaking a Covid testing drive for restaurant staff in Koramangala, it was found that those testing positive first were the employees stationed at the delivery counter who handed over food packages to personnel for delivery to customers.

Volunteers conducting the tests then realised that the first possible contacts were the delivery boys of the various services. “Food delivery boys either get infected or spread the virus at the restaurant/shop where they pick up the order and at the point where they deliver the food parcels to customers.

There also have places where they group together and wait for the orders to be prepared, when they are seen not wearing masks properly,” said Rahul Francis, a volunteer with the testing team at Koramangala which undertook the drive. 

‘Employers must ensure safety of delivery staff’

“Even though some companies have started contactless delivery, where the food parcels are kept at the door or gates, not all have adopted this system,” added Rahul Francis, the volunteer with the testing team at Koramangala. Francis said delivery persons could have contracted the Covid-19 infection from their neighbourhood or family.

With Work From Home becoming the new normal and the fear of catching the virus at restaurants weighing heavy, people are increasingly opting for home delivery of food through apps. Doctors say this calls for urgent testing of delivery men for Covid-19. “These individuals are at a high risk if they are in contact with Covidpositive persons, while not wearing mask for more than 15 minutes, or if they attended a funeral or large social gatherings with family.

They must be encouraged to self-report symptoms of stuffy nose, loss of smell or taste, diarrhoea, fever, cold, body pain, throat pain, etc. Their employers as well as the government are obligated to get them tested,” said Dr Murali Chakravarthy, MD and Chairman, Central Infection Prevention and Control Committee, Fortis Hospital. Dr Chakravarthy added that if they are asymptomatic, they must be sent for RT-PCR test and if they are symptomatic, for antigen test.

Agreeing with him, Dr Bindumathi P L, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, at Aster CMI Hospital, said residential apartments and housing societies too should screen individuals before allowing them entry into the buildings. “Companies employing delivery boys should also get them tested for Covid-19 to ensure safety of everyone. The delivery personnel should ensure that they continue to wear masks every time they deliver a package.

Furthermore, they should sanitise themselves at every touch point and should wear clean clothes every day to avoid the risk of contracting the virus,” Dr Bindumathi added. However, Dr Basavaraj Kuntoji, Manipal Hospitals, felt that it is not necessary to get them tested on a routine basis, unless they show symptoms like fever, cold, cough, body pain, etc. “Delivery personnel are at the same risk as doctors, nurses and police personnel, especially since they travel across the city.

They are susceptible to the virus if they do not wear masks, maintain safe distance and hand hygiene while going about their jobs or if the restaurant staff or customer are not following the necessary precautionary measures. The difficult aspect is that we do not know if the hotel staff or customer they are in contact with had Covid-19 or not,” Dr Kuntoji said.