COVID-19 Task Force: Lunch Break Becomes The Cause Of Office Clusters

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force Wiku Adisasmito said that lunch break is one of the causes of the spread of COVID-19 in offices or office clusters.

Where at lunch, the workers usually take off their masks. Well, there is a potential for COVID-19 to occur.

"Clusters that occur in offices, one of the contributions is lunch break or worship," said Wiku in a press conference broadcast online on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube account, Tuesday, September 8.

Apart from lunch time, this cluster is also prone to occur in offices with a total capacity of more than 50 percent and this makes the application of guarding distance impossible.

So, he asked employees not to take off their masks carelessly while in the office.

"Removing the mask is only for eating or worship. So really, keep your distance, use a mask to prevent transmission," said Wiku.

Furthermore, Wiku also reminded the use of this mask to be important. Because, a study in America said masks were successful in protecting society and the success rate was above 70 percent.

If the use of these masks can be carried out in a disciplined manner by the community, it is not impossible that the number of COVID-19 transmission will decrease dramatically.

"If more than 75 percent of the population wears masks, COVID-19 can drop drastically," he said.

"We ask all of you to be really disciplined in applying the use of masks," he added.

Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reminded his staff to be aware of the emergence of new clusters of the spread of COVID-19. This new cluster can appear in offices to regional elections.

"I need to convey this caution. Be careful with office clusters. The two family clusters, be careful. The last one is also the Pilkada cluster to be careful. So that you will always be reminded of this," Jokowi said when opening a plenary cabinet meeting for handling health and recovery for strengthening reforms posted on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Monday, September 7.

Jokowi said that clusters need to be paid close attention. This is because the current government ranks often concentrate on preventing COVID-19 in public places but pay less attention to clusters that are close to the community.

"We forget that now we have to be careful in those clusters that I conveyed. The family cluster because we get home already feels safe, even though that's where we have to be careful," he said.

"On the way to the office we also feel safe, so we also forget about being in the health protocol office," added the former governor of DKI Jakarta.