Third SoCal Whole Foods Worker Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Nicole Charky
Updated ·3 min read

SANTA MONICA, CA — A third worker at a Whole Foods Market in Santa Monica has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Employees at 1425 Montana Avenue, near 15th Street, were notified Saturday via text alert from the company that another employee had tested positive for the virus.

Two other workers have tested positive for coronavirus at this location over the last few weeks.

The location is small compared to other Whole Foods stores, and managers told employees in July they had completed additional cleaning, an employee told Patch.

The store had a "professional deep cleaning and disinfection" that "was performed after their last day worked," a spokesperson for Whole Foods told Patch earlier this month after the second and first employee tested positive for the virus.

“We have been informed that a team member at the Montana Avenue store has been diagnosed with COVID,” a store manager at the location told Patch. “We are supporting the team member who is in quarantine. The safety of our customers is top priority and we are following the guidance of the health department."

Crews have sanitized the store and continue to clean throughout the day.

“All of our team members who reported believe they got it outside their store, but we respect their privacy and we can’t provide any further information,” a manager said.

Patch contacted Whole Foods corporate again Saturday for additional information and response to the increased cases connected to the location.

Throughout the pandemic, essential workers at grocery or drug stores were receiving "hazard" or "hero" pay, often a $2 per hour increase that companies gave employees during the health crisis and ongoing stay-at-home orders. That increased pay for workers stopped in early June, but the pandemic continues to rage.

Whole Foods announced a "thank you bonus" on June 29 for front line workers. These bonuses total more than $500 million companywide. Here's who benefits from the bonuses:

  • $500 for full-time Amazon employees, Whole Foods Market employees, and Delivery Service Partner drivers

  • $250 for part-time Amazon employees, Whole Foods Market employees, and Delivery Service Partner drivers

  • $1,000 for all front-line Amazon and Whole Foods Market leaders

  • $3,000 for our Delivery Service Partner owners

  • $150 for each Amazon Flex driver with more than 10 hours in June

As of the last pay period, Whole Foods employees were still waiting for their bonus, according to an employee who declined to give their name.

Patch reached out to Whole Foods for more information about when employees can expect their bonuses.

Grocery and drug store workers are calling on other grocery chains, including Albertsons, Vons Grocery and Rite Aid, to maintain a $2 per hour pay increase for essential workers during the pandemic as the number of cases and deaths due to the virus rise statewide.

Several grocery workers in Los Angeles County have died from the coronavirus, according to several supermarket chains, including Whole Foods and Ralphs.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million workers, has warned of the growing danger of COVID-19 for workers.

As of June 25, 238 UFCW frontline workers have died from COVID-19 and nearly 29,000 workers have been infected or exposed to the coronavirus in the U.S.

A Pasadena Whole Foods employee died from COVID-19 in May.

A Ralphs employee in Culver City and another in Sherman Oaks were hospitalized and died from COVID-19 in May.

In Santa Monica, a Burger King employee died from the coronavirus this month.

As of Saturday, there were 545 reported cases of COVID-19 and 35 deaths in Santa Monica, according to the Los Angeles County Health Department data.

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This article originally appeared on the Santa Monica Patch