Soaring coronavirus (COVID-19) case counts in British Columbia include infections confirmed among employees at major national grocery store chains operating across the Lower Mainland.
Loblaw Companies Ltd, the parent company of retail chains Real Canadian Superstore, City Market, and Your Independent Grocer provided updates to its COVID-19 employee case listings on April 3, 4, and 5, indicating the following:
- Davie Street Your Independent Grocer, 1255 Davie Street, Vancouver: The last day the team member worked was on March 31
- Real Canadian Superstore, 333 Seymour Blvd, North Vancouver: The last day each of the three infected team members worked was on March 25 and March 27
- Real Canadian Superstore, 14650 - 104th Avenue, Surrey: The last day each of the two infected team members worked was on March 22 and March 31
- Real Canadian Superstore, 19800 Lougheed Hwy, Pitt Meadows: The last day the team member worked was on March 27
- Real Canadian Superstore, 7550 King George Blvd, Surrey: The last day the team member worked was on March 22
On April 1 and 2, the Canadian grocery giant reported several employee COVID cases at many of its other Metro Vancouver stores, including at the Park Royal City Market in North Vancouver and the Real Canadian Superstore in Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby.
Currently, there are 23 entries on the Loblaw coronavirus case tracker for its B.C. stores, representing multiple locations and numerous cases reported between March 26 and April 5. Of those entries, 18 represent stores located in either the Vancouver Coastal Health or Fraser Health regions.
Loblaw-owned T & T Supermarket posts employee case updates on its website, however, the company has not had a case to report in British Columbia in the last two weeks.
New cases reported at two Metro Vancouver Safeway stores
Sobeys Inc, which operates stores like Safeway and Thrifty Foods, updated its B.C. coronavirus case tracker recently to include the following B.C. employee cases at its stores:
- Safeway, 6564 East Hastings St, Burnaby: The last day the store employee worked was on March 21
- Safeway, 1766 Robson Street, Vancouver: The last day the store employee worked was on March 24
The company is also reporting cases affecting workers at one of its stores in the Interior Health region in Smithers, and among staff at two stores in Island Health in Parksville and Victoria.
Record-setting COVID-19 case counts in B.C.
B.C.'s soaring number of new COVID-19 cases continued, with the province recording a record 1,018 on April 2, and then breaking that record by detecting 1,072 cases as reported on Saturday, April 3.
Of the 2,090 new cases reported in the province the 48-hour period from Thursday to Saturday, 709 were in Vancouver Coastal Health (33.9%) and 1,052 were in Fraser Health (50.3%).
With files from Glen Korstrom/Glacier Media
