West Side Rag »Covid Cases Raise Concern at Local Trader Joe’s; The company uses a special cleaning team



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Posted on November 30, 2020 at 9:21 p.m. by West Sider

Cases of Covid among Trader Joe’s employees on 93rd Street and Columbus Avenue have raised concerns among staff, according to a report released by Gothamist. Shopkeeper Joe confirmed to West Side Rag that there had been cases in the store, but added that the company believed Covid was not spreading in the store.

The Gothamist article detailed the concerns of employees at several New York locations about the company’s practices regarding Covid-19, including claims that social distancing and wearing masks is not properly. applied among customers and that “stores are no longer properly cleaned. The company responded to Gothamist by saying, “We have made creating a safe working and shopping environment a priority every day, by developing and implementing procedures that meet and exceed CDC recommendations. and health officials. ”

In the 93rd store in particular, an employee told Gothamist that several staff members had caught the virus.

An Upper West Side employee said at least four of his colleagues have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two weeks.

“He clearly circulated among the crew,” said the employee, who asked not to disclose his name for fear of reprisal. “If I was in charge, the only morally defensible option would be to shut down the store, get everyone tested quickly, and only let those people who test negative come back.”

When asked if the claims were correct and if the company had considered closing this store (as had happened previously after positive cases), a spokesperson for a Trader Joe sent the following statement. to West Side Rag:

Although we have had a few cases in our Upper West Side store, the rate of positive cases there is lower than the average rate of positive cases in this community. In each case, all store crew members were notified of the positive case. Any crew member who had had close contact with the person who tested positive was identified, quarantined and encouraged to be tested. All of these tests came back negative, confirming our belief that the spread is not taking place inside the store. However, to be on the safe side, we brought in an exterior cleaning crew to thoroughly clean the store. These cleanings are in addition to the hourly cleanings of high touch point areas in the store.

Staff at that store had responded gratefully to the Upper West Siders when they cheered for essential workers earlier in the pandemic.

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