312 staffers at Black Construction test positive

312 H-2 workers at Black Construction have tested positive for the COVID virus. The company held a joint news conference with the Guam Department of Public Health today to announce that its entire foreign labor workforce is now under quarantine. Officials also explained current efforts to contain the infections.

The company's medical adviser, Dr. Hoa Nguyen, says they believe the first case was a local worker who tested positive about two weeks ago. Over the weekend more than 500 H-2 laborers were tested, and 312 came back positive.

Black Construction senior vice president and general manager Leonard Kaae says, "What we've done at the recommendation of Dr. Nguyen is we've identified specific people that need to be isolated, and we're isolating anywhere from four to six individuals per room who are basically positive. And, so we are able to isolate them on one barracks on the second floor," he said.

Most of the workers remain asymptomatic, although one was said to be hospitalized. Kaae sought to reassure the public that since the pandemic started in March, the H-2 workers have been very restricted in their movement, so community spread from them is not likely.

"They're allowed to go to work, and come back to the barracks. And not receive any visitors, and not leave the barracks. So since then these H-2's have been locked down," he said. "We have 24/7 security utilizing G4S and we've notified all our neighbors of the current situation. We keep a close eye on these H2s. To answer your question specifically, no, no one is allowed to leave the barracks."

Public Health director Art San Agustin is encouraging similar transparency from all companies, noting, "It's really what we're asking all the private businesses to engage with us. If you have a positive we're here to work with you, we're here to move our island forward. And so that we too as a community can move forward collectively."

Several hundred more people still need to be tested out of a total of 1,300 personnel including employees, subcontractors and vendors. Black, which is the primary contractor for several, multi-million dollar projects, has ceased operations until it can clear all the workers.