Aldi store’s entire staff in quarantine after COVID-19 outbreak, Virginia officials say
Several employees at an Aldi grocery store in Spotslyvania County, Virginia have tested positive for the coronavirus, but the store has remained open, according to the Rappahannock Area Health District.
All employees of the store are in quarantine and on paid leave, Aldi Corporate Manager Phillip Roades said. After temporarily closing April 28 for a deep cleaning, the Aldi store reopened with staff from other nearby locations, Roades said.
Neither the health department or the store confirmed how many employees had tested positive for the virus. It’s the area’s first outbreak, according to the health department.
The store has implemented several precautions, including mandating employees to wear face masks and practice social distancing, placing cashiers six feet apart and limiting the the number of customers in the store at one time to 40, the health department said.
Similar outbreaks have been reported at some Walmarts and Whole Foods stores. At least six employees at a Washington D.C. Whole Foods have confirmed cases of the disease, WUSA9 reported.
There have been multiple protests among Whole Foods workers and another is scheduled for Friday in conjunction with other major retailers.
“The bottom line is we don’t think Whole Foods or Amazon is doing nearly enough as they could be to protect both employees and customers at the store in terms of personal safety and public health,” Boston’s Dan Steinbrook, a Whole Foods employee, told The Guardian.
Twenty-three workers at a Boston-area Walmart tested positive for COVID-19, leading to an emergency shut down of the store by the city, WYCN reported. Three deaths and 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been associated with a Walmart in Aurora, Colorado, the Denver Post reported. The store was closed for two days before reopening earlier this week.
Several Walmart workers told Buzzfeed News earlier this month they were worried their managers were not taking the virus seriously enough.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 3:30 PM.