More store employees of major retail chains in Metro Vancouver, like Shoppers Drug Mart and Safeway, have recently tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Sobeys, Inc., parent company of local grocery chains Safeway, Thrifty Foods, and franchise operation FreshCo, reports store employee COVID-19 test positive cases on its public web portal.
Recent updates to its team member case count include the following store in Metro Vancouver:
- Safeway, 8860 – 152 Street, Surrey: The last day the store employee worked was Jan. 9
The Surrey Safeway store employee case joins several recent updates to Sobeys' roster, which has seen the addition of new cases lately past the two-week incubation period window, including that of a worker at a Safeway store in North Burnaby.
A worker at the Kensington Safeway (6564 East Hastings St) tested positive for coronavirus and last worked at the store on Dec. 28 but it wasn’t reported on the company’s case tracker until Sunday, Jan. 16.
Neither of the Safeway store locations is considered public exposure sites by Fraser Health, the health authority for Burnaby and Surrey.
Loblaw Companies Ltd, the parent company of the major retail chain Shoppers Drug Mart provided updates to its COVID-19 employee case listings, indicating there have been new cases among staff at the following affected stores:
- Shoppers Drug Mart, 7538 120th Street, Surrey: The last day the team member worked was on Jan. 13.
- Shoppers Drug Mart, 2490 Marine Drive, West Vancouver: The last day the team member worked was on Jan. 9
On Jan. 10 the company indicated a new test-positive coronavirus case affecting a team member at its Richmond Centre Shoppers location. That employee last worked as recently as Jan. 7. Additionally, the Shoppers Drug Mart store on Fraser Highway in Surrey also had an employee test positive. They last worked on Jan. 10.
Loblaw also owns Asian grocery giant T&T Supermarket, which is the only other grocery store chain operating in B.C. to publicly post employee COVID-19 cases online - though retailers like Quebec-based home improvement store RONA shares updates on its Facebook page and McDonald's Canada has an online case tracker.
While T&T has not reported any new cases at its British Columbia stores in the last 14 days, its CEO, Tina Lee, shared a statement on Jan. 13 about its policy of reporting employee cases online, saying: "Informing our customers is not just a service, it's a responsibility."
With a file from Chris Campbell/Burnaby NOW
