Several more employees at major grocery stores operating in B.C. have tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) in recent days, particularly in the Lower Mainland.
Stores with affected employees are located in both the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions, including in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, and Coquitlam.
Sobeys, Inc, the parent company of familiar stores like Safeway and Thrifty Foods, and the franchisor of discount grocery chain FreshCo, indicated April 8 on its case tracker that employees working at three of its Metro Vancouver stores have tested positive for the virus. The affected stores are as follows:
- Safeway - 2733 West Broadway, Vancouver: The last day the employee worked was March 31
- Safeway - 1766 Robson St, Vancouver: The last day the employee worked was April 4
- Safeway - 1170 East 27 St, North Vancouver: The last day the employee worked was April 3
Loblaw Companies Ltd, the parent company of Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, and other local chains, provided updates to its COVID-19 employee case listings on April 9 indicating cases at the following store locations in the Metro Vancouver region:
- Dennis' No Frills - 100 - 1960 Como Lake Ave, Coquitlam: The last day the team member worked was on April 1
- Dean's No Frills - 4508 Fraser St, Vancouver: The last day the team member worked was on March 28
While T&T Supermarket is owned by Loblaw, the Canadian Asian grocery chain lists its COVID-19 cases separately on its own site. The company is reporting a new case at the following Metro Vancouver store:
- Central City Store - #3000-10153 King George Blvd, Surrey: The last day the part-time associate worked was April 2
None of the above-listed grocery stores are considered coronavirus public exposure sites by Fraser Health or Vancouver Coastal Health.
New order allows WorkSafeBC to shut down workplaces with COVID transmissions
B.C.'s steady rise in newly discovered COVID-19 infections continued April 8, with a record 1,293 cases detected in the prior 24-hour period, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told media Thursday afternoon.
To help combat the spread of the virus that has spawned a global pandemic, Henry said she was putting in place a new health order that allows WorkSafeBC inspectors to work under the Public Health Act to be able to shut workplaces down for 10 days or more when they detect outbreaks that involve workplace transmissions that involve three or more people.
Henry called the order an "ongoing evolution" of the program that the province has had for workplaces.
