Some Gig Harbor employees sent home after co-worker tests positive for COVID

Only four days after Gig Harbor’s Civic Center was re-opened to the public, more than a dozen employees were sent home because of possible exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

A number of people who work in the first-floor Planning, Building and Public Works section were sent home Thursday because they might have come in contact with an employee who tested positive for the virus, said acting City Administrator Tony Piasecki. He said he did not know the exact number, but it was somewhere between 15 and 20 employees.

“We have been in contact with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and have been following their advice,” Piasecki said. “The employees have been advised to watch for symptoms and to get tested if they experience any.”

The Civic Center, located at 351O Grandview Ave., was re-opened to the public on Monday, July 26, after being mostly closed since the coronavirus pandemic started in March 2020. Unvaccinated visitors were being asked to wear masks.

Piasecki said the employee who is ill could not be identified because of federal privacy laws. Another employee’s daughter also tested positive, but there was believed to be no connection between the two cases, Piasecki said.

He said the employees sent home would continue to do their jobs from home, just as most of them had during the pandemic shutdown. They should be called back to the Civic Center sometime next week, he said, depending on advice from the health department.

Piasecki said many of the employees in that part of the building, such as building inspectors, had both indoor and outdoor jobs, and only those known to have been in contact with the possible carrier were sent home.

Other departments in the building, including the Municipal Court, the Police Department and the executive offices on the second floor were unaffected and functioning normally. The building remained open to the public.

Servepro, a private company that specializes in workplace damage has been hired to decontaminate and sanitize the affected first-floor area, Piasecki said.

People who have business with the affected departments, such as applying for building permits or getting inspections, can still get help by phone, Piasecki said.

“Everyone who can work at home will be, just as we did during most of last,” he said. “Call and we’ll take a message and get it to the right person.”

The city’s general number is 253-851-6170.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated incorrectly that the employee’s daughter was the only case known.

This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 5:49 PM.