How Large Businesses Will Re-Open on the SouthCoast

Dr. Eliesel Lacerda De La Cruz has been our chief COVID-19 correspondent throughout the coronavirus crisis. Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz is the infectious disease expert at Southcoast Health and is the chairman of infectious disease prevention. He joins us each Monday on The Rock and Fox Show.

We asked Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz how he would go about advising Governor Charlie Baker if he was asked about what types of businesses should open first and when. He told us that the first step is getting 14 days in a row of no newly-diagnosed cases.

When the governor decides to give the green light to start opening businesses, the doctor says he'd recommend businesses that don't have a high turnover of different people. For example, a company like Titleist or Joseph Abboud could have hundreds working during a particular shift, but it is a more controllable situation than having that same number of people from the general public walking in and out of a store or restaurant.

"If you have a big turnaround of people coming in and out, that's a more dangerous situation than if you have the same group that you can identify and track," Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz said.

The doctor foresees employees at places like Abboud, Acushnet Company, and others to be wearing masks and having their temperatures checked as they arrive to work. He also mentioned that testing would be an important piece so that when someone shows symptoms they can be quickly isolated while they implement contact testing.

Another strategy will be to use antibody testing so that people who have already built up some immunity to the virus can be grouped together to work. Those antibody tests are expected to arrive here on the SouthCoast in a matter of weeks. The doctor expects them to be covered by most insurances and patients would contact their primary care physician to get one.