Corona has broken out in the headquarters of the low-cost airline Ryanair in Swords, Ireland. The carrier informed the workforce about positive tests. The local health authority was not long in coming, because they arrived and subjected all office employees to a mass test.

The number of positive cases was not communicated, but the Irish Examiner reports that Ryanair used legal tricks to refuse to reveal the names of the employees. In doing so, the GDPR was invoked and is said to have instructed an employee who tested positive that he or she should tell the health authority HSE that he had no close contact with the office employees and that “all measures were observed”. If the authority persists, all questions should be forwarded to a senior manager before answering.

The HSE authority nevertheless enforced the mass tests. Ryanair was of the opinion that these are not necessary as they already have their own program. However, the HSE previously received indications that there are allegedly a "significant number of employees with symptoms" in the Ryanair office, according to the Irish daily, citing a Ryanair employee.

Ryanair: No comment

Local media are now questioning the carrier's Corona security measures in the office premises. This is about the open-plan offices, in which many employees work and the ventilation is said to be suboptimal. Some told the Irish Examiner that they fear the virus could spread across the floor very quickly. There have already been many positive cases and some employees would be scared because of it.

In an internal circular it can be read that in a test carried out in December, the "majority of the employees in the ops area tested negative". However, Ryanair employees doubt this in relation to the local daily newspaper. These accuse the company artificially downplaying the positive rate. The employees are said to have been informed of positive cases for the first time on December 9, 2020. On December 16, there was talk of “few cases” and on January 28, 2021 it was said that “there had been no positive case for more than a week”.

Ryanair did not want to comment on the allegations. It is a matter of speculation and rumors. However, it was emphasized that they had cooperated with the HSE and that all provisions on employee protection at work would be complied with.