Employees at more Southwest Florida grocery stores test positive for COVID-19, but new cases may be slowing
Laura LaydenDespite cranking up protective measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus in July, some large grocery store chains are still seeing their workers test positive for COVID-19.
Among those chains? Publix.
The Florida-based grocer confirmed that it's had more than a dozen stores where an employee has tested positive for COVID-19 since July 22, when the News-Press and Naples Daily News last published an update.
A day before the last update, Publix, headquartered in Lakeland, started requiring all customers to wear face masks, in addition to all of its employees.
The grocer implemented the mask-wearing mandate for employees months earlier — on April 20. A few days after adopting the requirement, the company gave its employees reusable cloth face masks.
As of Sept. 21, the most recent information provided, Publix had employees testing positive for COVID-19, in the past 14 days at five locations in Collier County:
4370 Thomasson Drive, Naples; 1089 N. Collier Blvd., Suite 401, Marco Island; 15265 Collier Blvd., Naples; 1981 Tamiami Trail N., Naples; and 13550 Immokalee Road, Naples.
During those same two weeks, employees got a positive reading at nine Publix stores in Lee County:
5781 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres; 1616 Cape Coral Parkway W., #5, Cape Coral; 5997 S. Pointe Blvd., Suite 106, Fort Myers; 4791 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach; 20311 Grande Oak Shoppes Blvd., Estero; 2420 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral; 16980 Alico Mission Way, Suite 403, Fort Myers; 17960 N. Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers; and 3304 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs.
All of these stores, except two, have previously seen employees testing positive. The newest to make the list are the ones at Estero Boulevard and on Alico Mission Way, both in Lee County.
Not over?
Publix has now confirmed a little more than 50 locations in Lee and Collier where employees have contracted the virus. In the previous update, the number of impacted stores grew by 13, widening the reach of the virus in Southwest Florida.
In a company statement, Publix said: "Like other essential service providers, we have seen our own associates and their families personally impacted by COVID-19. Unfortunately, as public health officials have indicated, we expect to see an increase in cases as the virus spreads in our communities."
The company, criticized along with other chains for not acting sooner to protect its customers, associates and communities, emphasized that their health and well-being have always been and remain a top priority.
"We are proud of how our dedicated associates are taking care of our customers and each other through this unprecedented and challenging time," the company stated. "And, we thank our customers for continuing to trust us with providing them with the goods and services they need."
Like other big chains, Publix has taken many proactive steps to protect its employees and customers from the spread of the virus in recent months, including implementing a heightened cleaning and disinfection program, installing plexiglass shields at registers and other customer service counters, adding signage in stores to remind customers and employees to social distance and adjusting store hours to restock shelves and allow more time for sanitization.
The grocer offers up to 14 days of paid leave to employees testing positive for the virus, as well as to other associates who have worked closely alongside them.
Since adopting mask policies for customers, some grocery chains in Southwest Florida have seen a noticeable dip in the pace of new cases among their employees.
Since the last update on July 22, Aldi confirmed that it's seen only one additional employee test positive for COVID-19 in Lee and Collier counties, but the discount grocer didn't provide an address for the affected store.
Headquartered in Batavia, Illinois, Aldi has far fewer stores than Publix does in Southwest Florida.
Aldi
In the first week of July, Aldi confirmed that two of its nine locations in Lee and Collier had a total of three employees who tested positive.
A few weeks later, the chain said that four additional employees in the two counties had contracted the disease. Those employees worked at the following locations: 1481 Southwest Pine Island Road, Cape Coral; 4015 Santa Barbara Blvd., #6, Naples; and 10991 Saxum Drive, Fort Myers.
"We will continue to partner with state and local health experts, and follow the guidance of the CDC. We’ve enacted a number of initiatives to further promote health and safety for both customers and employees," Aldi said in a statement.
Those safety initiatives include creating one-way aisles to better manage the flow of traffic, adding signage and floor decals to remind employees and customers to stay at least six feet apart, and installing safety shields at check-out counters.
Aldi requires all of its store and warehouse employees to wear face masks or coverings while on duty and all customers entering its doors have been required to do the same since July 27.
"We also take the temperatures of our store and warehouse employees and have employees complete a basic health screening before reporting to work," Aldi stated.
Walmart
Retail giant Walmart, which also requires all of its employees and customers to wear masks, does not report coronavirus cases among its associates, or share specific locations of affected stores when asked.
In a statement, Walmart spokesman Casey Staheli said: "Our practice is to leave COVID-19 confirmations up to the local health officials out of respect and privacy for our associates’ personal health information. The health department is the local authority on if and when such information should be reported for the safety of the community, but rest assured we are also taking all measures necessary to safeguard the well-being of those inside our stores, fulfillment centers and distribution centers."
Like its competitors, Walmart has implemented a host of safety measures from adopting new deep-cleaning and sanitization protocols to requiring employees to have health screenings and temperature checks before they can start their shifts.
"In the event we do have a confirmed case at any of our stores, we are working with those associates and offering guidance and time needed to receive medical care," Staheli said. "Associates have been encouraged to prioritize their health and stay home if feeling sick. We also implemented a COVID-19 emergency leave policy (extended through January 2021) for all associates who feel unable or uncomfortable coming to work."
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Whole Foods
In early July, Whole Foods, one of the largest organic food supermarkets in the world, confirmed employees at its two locations in Lee and Collier counties had tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Since then the grocer has not provided an update about whether any more of is associates have come down with COVID-19 at its local stores — at 9101 Strada Place in Naples and 6891 Daniels Parkway, Suite 100, in Fort Myers — out of respect for their privacy.
In a company statement, Whole Foods said: “The safety of our team members and customers is our top priority and we are diligently following all guidance from local health and food safety authorities."
The company has worked to support its team members while they're in quarantine and adopted a host of new safety measures to protect its employees and customers.
“Our priority is ensuring safety in our stores, which is why we address any confirmed diagnosis in our stores or facilities with a comprehensive action plan that includes enhanced cleaning and contact tracing, as well as communicating directly with our team members," Whole Foods stated.
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The Fresh Market
The Fresh Market, a boutique specialty grocer with four locations in Lee and Collier, previously confirmed an employee at its store at 13499 S. Cleveland Ave. had tested positive for the virus in mid-July.
Since then another worker has come down with COVID-19. However, the company did not provide the address of the store where the affected associate worked.
The company, based in Salt Lake City, has made it a priority to "maintain the highest levels of cleanliness" in its stores, said Meghan Flynn, a company spokeswoman, in an email.
"We have had a total of two team members test positive. We believe the practices we have put in place from the very beginning have enabled us to continue to serve the community, while adhering to all of the public health authority guidance," she said.
After learning about each of the positive cases the grocer "implemented enhanced deep cleaning and disinfection protocols" and "scheduled an outside third-party company to do enhanced overnight disinfection," Flynn said.
Sprouts
Sprouts, a natural and organic food chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, has a web page that provides the public with updated information about COVID cases among its employees. In early July, the page showed a worker at its 119990 S. Tamiami Trail location in Estero had tested positive.
On Tuesday, the web page showed no recent outbreaks among its employees in Southwest Florida, but there have been some in other parts of Florida and elsewhere.
The company implemented a strict requirement for masks on July 11, later than some of its competitors, after getting pressure from customers and employees to step up its safety practices.
Trader Joe's
A representative for Trader Joe's, one of the top competitors for chains such as Fresh Market and Whole Foods, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Based in Monrovia, California, the grocer has just one location in the two counties at the Granada Shoppes in North Naples, with plans to open another in south Fort Myers at the Page Field Commons shopping center soon.
Target
A spokesman for mega-retailer Target couldn't immediately be reached about whether it's seen any new cases involving employees at its handful of stores in Southwest Florida.
Sometimes the company has provided information on cases if the media becomes aware of a specific one at a specific store and asks about it.
For example, Target, based in Minneapolis, confirmed an employee tested positive at a store at Coconut Point in Estero in late March after word spread around town. In a statement, the retailer said: "We’ll continue to first and foremost take care of our team and guests."
Winn-Dixie
Winn-Dixie, based in Jacksonville, has not responded to multiple requests for information about cases involving their local employees.
Parent company Southeastern Grocers began requiring its customers to wear masks on July 27 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, making it one of the last of its competitors to do so.
"Our communities count on us, and we are counting on our customers to show kindness as we go through these challenging times together," said Joe Caldwell, the company's director of corporate communications and government affairs, in a media alert at the time.
"We believe that the enforcement should be placed upon our state and federally elected officials," he added, "and we will continue to work with our peers in the retail industry to advocate for this sensible mandate to be passed into law to remove the burden from employers and their heroic frontline associates."
As of Wednesday, the total number of reported cases of COVID-19 in Collier County stood at more than 12,700, according to the Florida Department of Health.
That compares to more than 20,500 cases in Lee.
Meanwhile, the death toll from COVID-19 has risen to more than 220 in Collier. In Lee, it has reached 468, seventh-most among Florida counties.
Through petitions, letter-writing campaigns, demonstrations — and even strikes — grocery workers have fought for more safety protections and called for better pay and benefits amid the pandemic, including paid sick leave and hazard pay. Some have organized these efforts on their own, while others have worked through unions to bring about change.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union recently reported that among its union members at least 105 grocery store workers have died from the virus — and at least 15,484 of them have been infected or exposed to it.
The Washington, D.C.-based union has been a leading national voice in the call to safeguard and adequately compensate grocery and other frontline workers who are dealing with the dangers of COVID-19 in industries such as health care, retail and food packing.
In the first 100 days after the pandemic hit, the union reported that 238 of its members in total had died from the virus.
Last week, the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 7 million, with more than 206,000 deaths associated with the virus nationwide.