Canada Post getting back to normal after 5 employees test positive for COVID-19

Most of Canada Post's employees are back to work and regular mail routes are resuming Tuesday in St. John's and the surrounding area.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers local representative Craig Dyer said Monday was the first day the sorting facility on Kenmount Road had the majority of its workers in the building since before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Newfoundland and Labrador.

Five employees tested positive, all linked to a cluster stemming from Caul's Funeral Home on LeMarchant Road.

Dyer said they have several trailer loads of mail to work through, but the catch-up work is underway.

While trying to get mail out to people who have been waiting for two weeks is important, they also want to do it in a way that doesn't endanger themselves or their families.

"It's not the norm," Dyer said."Our motto is six feet plus. It's not just six feet. We want to do better."

Last week, Canada Post resumed operations at the Kenmount Road facility. The focus was on getting cheques out to people as fast as possible. On Monday, the building was given another full cleaning, with regular mail routes resuming Tuesday.

Dyer said the corporation has doubled its cleaning staff and is providing workers with gloves to handle the mail.

He said the process they are undertaking is very similar to how they resumed mail delivery after the blizzard and ensuing state of emergency shut down operations in January.

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