Sixth Whole Foods Worker In SoCal Tests Positive For Coronavirus
SANTA MONICA, CA — A sixth Whole Foods Market worker has now tested positive for coronavirus at one of the grocery chain's smallest locations in the U.S. as the state of California enters its third wave of the pandemic.
This is the sixth time a worker at 1425 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, has tested positive for the virus, a team member confirmed with Patch.
A fifth employee tested positive for the virus in November, with the fourth reported case before that in early October. It's unclear where the workers were exposed to the virus. Workers are notified via text when a team member at the location tests positive.
Employees have complained to Patch that the location is small and makes it difficult to socially distance between customers and workers. The store is so tiny that the employees have a separate break room off-site, in an area separate from the store.
Patch reached out to Whole Foods Market last week for a statement on how it is responding to the ongoing cases.
"The safety of our Team Members and customers remains our top priority, which is why we address any confirmed diagnosis in our stores with a comprehensive action plan that includes enhanced cleaning and contact tracing, as well as communicating directly with our Team Members," a Whole Foods Market spokesperson told Patch. "We support any Team Member who is diagnosed positive or placed in quarantine so they can prioritize their health and stay home. We have rolled out extensive measures to keep people safe in our stores and are diligently following all guidance from local health and food safety authorities."
Whole Foods Market has declined to tell Patch if there are outbreaks at other stores, citing privacy for its employees.
Whole Foods stopped providing hazard pay during the pandemic, like many other grocery chains, all while workers have remained on the front lines.
The United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents more than 141,000 California frontline workers and 1.3 million workers in the U.S., reports that more than 350 front line workers have died during the pandemic. More than 48,000 workers have been infected or exposed as cases increase across the state and throughout the country.
Whole Foods workers have no union representation. In 2017, the company was acquired by Amazon in a $13.4 billion deal.
"America's essential workers are facing a holiday season of unparalleled danger as COVID-19 cases explode across the country," UFCW International President Marc Perrone said. "With more than 1 million new COVID-19 cases in the past week, and deaths spiking to unprecedented levels, we are entering what could be the deadliest phase of this pandemic for millions of America's essential frontline workers."
A Brookings Institution report reveals huge profits for grocery chains that have failed to reinstate hazard pay for frontline workers facing exposure to coronavirus, including Amazon, which owns Whole Foods. Amazon profits are reportedly up 53 percent following the company's move to end hazard pay and revealing at least 20,000 workers have been infected in the company.
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This article originally appeared on the Santa Monica Patch
