An SCV Water contractor who had entered 67 apartments on March 12 has been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive, according to water officials.
SCV Water said Friday that coronavirus has no impact on the quality of the water coming from the tap due to their treatment process that eliminates viruses.
“SCV Water is taking this issue very seriously and we are committed to notifying all who may have been exposed,” Matt Stone, general manager of SCV Water, said in a news release Friday.
The contractor worked for SCV Water’s public contractor, Water Wise, a water-efficiency program, and had been visiting apartments in a Canyon Country complex to install new faucets, shower heads and check the flush-rate on toilets, according to officials.
“The inspector would have worn gloves while in the units and would have been inside for less than 10 minutes,” said the news release. “LADPH (Department of Public Health) has indicated precautions are most important when someone would have been within 6 feet of a carrier of the virus and for more than 10 minutes.”
SCV Water had been working with the apartment complex property management company to either enter the apartments, or be let in by the residents themselves, according to Kathie Martin, a spokeswoman for SCV Water. The contractor was one of two Water Wise employees working in the apartment complex that day.
“Our role in this was we just wanted to take the lead and inform every apartment resident that’s in that complex,” said Martin, adding that all employees who had come in contact with the infected individual had been isolated and tested.
None of the other employees have tested positive, Martin said.
SCV Water said the employee was informed Monday night of their positive results and they told their employer on Tuesday. SCV Water said they then informed apartment residents on Thursday.
The SCV Water field programs, such as the water efficiency programs, were all suspended after March 12, Martin said.