A sharemilking couple had an anxious wait after one of their staff was a close contact to a positive covid-19 case. (File photo).
A sharemilking couple whose staff member become a close covid-19 contact are backing calls for farmers to create a plan in case they get a positive case in their bubble.
That checklist needs to be a living, moving document because of the variables that can occur during a close contact or covid positive situation on a farm when there are the needs of staff and animals to be taken into consideration.
The employee, Sarah*, became a close contact after they visited a family member while observing distance protocols.
One of the members of that household tested positive after they had met, which made that worker a close contact.
The couple wish to remain anonymous to protect the identity of their employee.
The close contact call came at around 7pm that evening and the couple were left scrambling to find someone to fill in for them, as they were meant to be working in the milking shed the next morning.
“She rang us in the evening and of course she starts milking at 5am the following morning, so we had less than 12 hours to try and get something in place,” the couple said.
The worker was stood down, tested and isolated in their on-farm accommodation. At that stage, she had also received her first covid vaccination.
The worker had also been in contact with one of the sharemilkers and another of their workers between the time she met with the family member and the time she was informed she was a close contact.
They say they were potentially facing the prospect of having to milk 440 cows without their staff.
“It was a bit of a heartbeat moment when she rang,” they said.
“We suddenly realised all of the people that had been on our farm.”
They then anxiously waited for her test to come back before deciding whether to inform visitors that had been on their farm. They sighed with relief when the test came back negative.
“If she had tested positive, we would have had to have my husband tested because he would have brought it to our other farm,” she said.
While waiting for the test results to come back, they informed their other staff and discussed safety protocols and offered them the option of not coming to work.
“You suddenly realise that while your bubble might not be that big, but when you add everyone else’s bubble to it, it’s quite big. At the centre of it you have got to remember we are all human and we all react to things,” they said.
“Our first reaction was ‘oh, *****’. We’re running on skeleton staff as it is, everyone is tired and we had to try and find another gear.”
They also reassured Sarah and made sure all of their needs were met and promised her they will work through it together, whatever the result of the test was.
Health authorities may not realise how isolated young people living rurally are in the lockdown environment and Sarah was upset when she called to tell them.
She had been a loyal employee and they wanted to return that loyalty.
The scenario of her standing down for a lengthy period of time if she had tested positive also raised questions around about leave entitlements and the criteria of leave that was appropriate for this circumstance.
“Legally, where do you stand?” they asked.
The couple said larger companies can absorb any associated costs with this, but for smaller businesses, it was a huge hit.
Things are back to normal on the farm now, but looking back, as well as creating a checklist, farmers also need to make sure their processes around recording who was coming and going from their farm are sound and their contact lists are properly updated.
Then if there is a close contact or a positive case, they can quickly identify people at risk.
There are also the practical realities of sourcing competent staff to fill in if needed within an industry already suffering widespread worker shortages.
“The big take home message with covid is to be kind to each other first because the easy reaction is to start finger pointing,” they said.
*Name has been changed to protect their identity.
