Calgary grocery store worker tests positive for COVID-19

A grocery store in the city has announced that one of its employees has tested positive for COVID-19, the second such disclosure in the Calgary area in as many days.

The employeeworked at the Real CanadianSuperstore in the southeast community of McKenzie Towne, according to a Facebook post on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a No Frills in Okotoks alerted the publicit had an employee off sick for COVID-19, as well.

Both workers last were in their respective stores on April 11, store management said in Facebook posts, and they were informed of the diagnoses by their employees.

"We have a number of protocols in place at the store level, including daily sanitization and social distancing practices to minimize the risk of exposure to our customers and team members," the statements for each store said.

Store nearnursing home outbreak

The Superstore, at 4700 130th Ave. S.E., is about 2.5 kilometres directly north of the nursing home with the highest number of deaths in Alberta.TheMcKenzieTowne continuing care facilityhas reported a total of 21 deaths from COVID-19.

According to Alberta Health figures from Tuesday, the Calgary southeast area has had 157 positive coronavirus cases.

The Okotoks store is known as Christine's No Frills, at9 Sandstone Gates. In Okotoks,provincial figures reported 30 cases as of Tuesday.

The grocery stores, which are both subsidiaries ofLoblaws Inc.,were temporarily closed for thorough cleaning and have since reopened.

Alberta Health Services has issued a series of guidelines for grocery stores to follow during the pandemic. These includeregular disinfecting, encouraging online shopping and physical distancing, and reserving the first hour of each day for seniors and high-risk shoppers.

WATCH | How to safely physically distance in a grocery store:

How to social distance in the grocery store

5 years ago

Duration 2:07

As Canadians avoid gatherings and crowds amid the COVID-19 outbreak, grocery stores present a challenge as people stock up and pick shelves bare.