There is a COVID-19 outbreak among the Operations and Parks staff for the City of Pitt Meadows.

There have been four confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the crews from the city public works yard over Wednesday and Thursday, said city CAO Mark Roberts.

“We take the safety of our employees very seriously,” he said, so most of the 25 employees are being asked to isolate themselves.

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Staffing will be limited to a three-person rotation, which will respond to emergencies and provide basic service levels. All other services normally provided by the operations and parks staff will be on hold until Fraser Health deems it safe for the employees to return to work, said Roberts.

He said it was somewhat surprising that employees who generally work outdoors have been infected with the virus, but they do start and end their shifts at the public works building on Harris Road.

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He noted the building is not open to the general public, and exposure to the virus is believed to have been contained to this group of employees.

Roberts said the city did operate on the same three-person rotation structure during the early days of the pandemic, and he did not hear any public concerns.

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