A grocery store in Ottawa’s east end says 10 of its employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in just over a two-week span.
The Metro grocer at 6509 Jeanne D’Arc Blvd. in Orléans has seen 10 COVID-19 cases among its staff since April 13, according to case reporting available on the grocery chain’s website.
The affected employees’ last days of work before testing positive range from April 10-25. A full list of cases and the last days of work before testing positive is listed below.
A Metro spokesperson told Global News on Thursday that, in addition to regularly sanitizing surfaces that infected employees might have come into contact with, the entire store was cleaned after hours on April 26 by an external company.
Metro’s spokesperson said in a statement that, “as a result of the current situation, the store has hired two additional porters who have been added for continued enhanced cleaning on all high-traffic touchpoints.”
Metro said the health and safety of its employees has been its “top priority” since the start of the pandemic.
The store remains open to the public, the spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Despite the frequency of cases, it’s unclear whether the infections are connected or would constitute an outbreak.
Ottawa Public Health said in a statement to Global News on Thursday that it does not publicly disclose the names of businesses facing COVID-19 outbreaks unless the public is at risk or if usual contact tracing efforts are insufficient to identify high-risk contacts.
Before declaring an outbreak in any setting, OPH investigates to determine whether it was likely transmission occurred at the site or if there were epidemiological links between any of the cases.
OPH’s COVID-19 dashboard shows only one active outbreak in a retail setting while 14 outbreaks have been marked as resolved. OPH doesn’t disclose how many active cases are connected to outbreaks in workplaces, only showing 81 total cases across all 15 outbreaks.
Orléans Coun. Matt Luloff, whose ward includes the Metro grocer in question, cited the 10 cases at the store in throwing his support behind a motion at city council on Wednesday calling on the Ontario government to implement paid sick days for workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He expressed his confidence in the management of the Convent Glen Metro and the OPH team in limiting the transmission of COVID-19 among the store’s employees and customers in an email to Global News on Thursday.
Employees’ last days of work at the Convent Glen Metro before testing positive:
- April 25 (two employees)
- April 23
- April 17
- April 16
- April 15
- April 14
- April 11 (two employees)
- April 10
Other Metro locations in Ottawa reporting multiple COVID-19 cases in April include stores at 3201 Strandherd Dr. (three cases), 1705 Merivale Rd. (two cases) and 2261 Walkley Rd. (two cases).
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