Diagnosis a shock at leading law firm

A shock upset on Monday has seen the wife of a chef at law firm Clayton Utz test positive for COVID-19 after she was previously cleared.

A shock upset on Monday has seen the wife of a chef at law firm Clayton Utz test positive for COVID-19 after she was previously cleared.

The woman was cleared of the disease and the law firm’s Sydney office reopened on Monday, but after developing symptoms over the weekend she was confirmed to be infected in new tests. The woman is the granddaughter of the 95-year-old woman that died of coronavirus last week at a Macquarie Park nursing home in Sydney’s north.

The diagnosis follows last week’s revelation that saw two floors of the building emptied and almost 600 staff sent home to work on Thursday and Friday.

The firm cancelled client events with the CEO last week on the back of the news.

Clayton Utz confirmed the diagnosis, but the building was not once again evacuated.

“As soon as we were notified, we consulted our medical specialist, who advised that the risk of anyone in our Sydney office having contracted the virus through exposure to our employee is extremely low,” a Clayton Utz spokeswoman said.

“Our employee has not been in the Sydney office since March 4, has been self-isolating since that time, and has not shown any symptoms.”

Both the woman and her husband have been in isolation since Wednesday last week.

“Employees and clients are aware. Advice from our medical specialist is it’s fine to keep the office open,” the firm said.

“The NSW Department of Health have told our employee he doesn’t need to be tested as he’s not showing symptoms.”

The same building occupied by Clayton Utz houses offices for staff for both the prime minister and the opposition leader.

Dexus, which co-owns the building with Cbus Property, said it was taking precautionary measures to respond to COVID-19.

“These include rigorous health and hygiene procedures in place across our portfolio such as increased cleaning rotations, deep cleans on the request of customers and providing sanitiser dispensers in high touch points,” they said in a recent statement. “We are also requesting visitors to our buildings to notify us of travel from highly impacted destinations.”