Employees at Whole Foods store in Chapel Hill test positive for coronavirus

Employees who work at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the company.

A spokesperson did not say how many people have tested positive for COVID-19, nor when they were last in the store, to protect the employees’ privacy.

“The safety of our team members and customers is our top priority and we are diligently following all guidance from local health and food safety authorities,” the spokesperson said in an email to The News & Observer.

“We’ve been working closely with our store team members, and out of abundance of caution, the store has performed a professional deep cleaning and disinfection, on top of our current enhanced sanitation measures,” the statement said.

Employees who test positive for coronavirus get an additional two weeks of paid time off, The News & Observer previously reported.

Whole Foods said it is taking extra precautions in their stores, including social distancing, required temperature checks and face masks for employees, “enhanced” cleaning, plexiglass shields at checkout stands and early closure of stores so staff has more time to restock and sanitize.

Many of those practices comply with North Carolina’s executive order that went into effect April 13. In addition, Gov. Roy Cooper’s order requires retail and grocery stores to limit the number of people in stores and make aisles one-way for shoppers.

Whole Foods has been setting aside an hour every day for seniors and employees to shop, before the general public can enter, The N&O previously reported. The company has been paying hourly employees an additional $2 per hour through April and has doubled their hourly base rate of pay for every overtime hour worked from March 16 to May 3.

Staff reporter Brooke Cain contributed to this story.

This story was originally published May 2, 2020 at 8:27 PM.