Infected Shipyard Worker: 'We Asked for a Leave, They Said Ships Need to be Completed'

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Süleyman T. is a 51-year-old welder at a shipyard in Tuzla, İstanbul. He was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Friday (April 17).

His complaints had started 15 days ago. Having a sore throat and difficulty swallowing, he saw his family doctor, who told him that he caught a cold.

Four days later, he went to Tuzla State Hospital after having dizziness and vomiting. He was tested for coronavirus, given medication and a report and told to have a rest.

On the day he returned from sick leave, he was called by the Ministry of Health and told, "Your Covid-19 test was positive. Go to the nearest hospital immediately."

Having migrated from the eastern Bingöl province at a young age, he has been working at Tuzla's shipyards for 30 years. Operations at shipyards, where some 20 thousand people work, have not been halted by authorities during the pandemic.

The only employed person in the family, Süleyman is married with two children. Their daughter (25) is an unemployed university graduate and son (20) is preparing for university entrance exams.

The state hospital gave him medications to take for five days and told him to stay in quarantine at home for 14 days.

"I don't know what will happen next"

"I have been in quarantine for five days. Today is the last day, I don't know what will happen next. I have a headache, a sore throat, muscle and joint pain and a slight cough. I don't have fever or shortness of breath," he says.

"They said if I do not experience high fever, difficulty in breathing and diarrhea for five days, I will recover. This is the fifth day, I still have pains. There is no shortness of breath but my throat is swollen, I can't gulp, the pain has never gone away.

"One day, I have a heavy headache, the other day I have a pain in my joints. I don't feel like getting well. They didn't hospitalize me, I don't know how [people] are chosen to be hospitalized.

"The family doctor calls every day, gets information from my wife. S/He asks both about my situation and my wife and children. There is no problem with my wife and children right now, they have not been tested, but if they show a symptom, they will go to the hospital.

"I have been living in a room for five days. My wife puts my food in front of my door, and I get it. I think it is a bad feeling to have such a bad disease at home, but I think it might also be a bad feeling to be alone in the hospital."

Measures at the workplace

"I don't know where I got the virus. The shipyard has a number of problems, but during the epidemic, they took a lot of measures compared to most other places. Thermal cameras, the social distancing rule, disinfectants, masks, there was everything.

"We were going to lunch in groups. Three people would sit at a table. But you can't prevent contamination anyway. This can't be done with masks, you are protected there, but you contract it on the way [to work]. No measures work once you step outside the house.

"I live in Aydınlı, Tuzla. From here, there are three minibus lines to the shipyard. Forty people get on the minibus, which should have 10 people. The driver can't say anything, or a fight will start. One puts on a mask the other doesn't. How can you protect the social distance, it's not protected. Even if there are measures in the workplace, you contact so many people on the road every day. You have no escape, you catch it."

"You must finish the ships"

"So, masks are not the solution, all the workforce must be stopped. We requested paid leave, they said, 'There are ships that should be urgently finished. Those who don't want to come may not come.' But if you don't go [to work] for three days, they will dismiss you.

"Now, the firm has put everyone on leave. Should that happen like this? Should people's lives be endangered? Eight of my friends tested negative. The results of the other 10 have not come yet. They will be at home in quarantine for 14 days.

"I was suspicious about myself, I was sick for a week or 10 days. I was always very careful to protect my friends and family. But you can't see it, it is transmitted no matter how careful you are. I was careful too, but I got it."

"People's minimum needs must be met"

"A curfew should have been declared. Not going out only on weekends won't work. Everyone is outside on the weekdays, isn't the virus contagious on weekdays?

"They tell us to stay at home but they don't provide conditions for us to stay at home. One who doesn't work shouldn't be outside. But to keep the working ones at home, you must meet their minimum needs. If a state can't keep its people at home and take care of them for one month, it means that the state has collapsed. It means we are finished." (RT/VK)