Two Safeway employees test positive

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This article was published 27/08/2020 (1964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two workers at Brandon’s Safeway location have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the union representing workers there.

Another two workers are also self-isolating, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832 president Jeff Traeger.

“For right now, we are keeping an eye on this,” he said. “We have been in discussion with the company to ensure the couple of avenues that people have to get paid are being looked after while they’re off — and obviously we wish for a speedy recovery.”

When reached on Wednesday afternoon, Traeger couldn’t say what departments the workers who tested positive work in due to privacy concerns, but said everyone at the grocery store has some contact with the public.

Sobeys, the parent company to Safeway, has some of the most “progressive” health and safety protocols in place in the province, he said, and are good at jumping on new ones. Despite this, he said there is some concern about the cases creating a new outbreak. The outbreak associated with workers at Maple Leaf Foods’ Brandon plant also started with only a handful of cases.

Traeger also warned against stigmatizing people working at either Maple Leaf or anywhere else with a confirmed positive case. Health officials have also warned against stigma, saying it is counterproductive.

See ‘Brandon’ — Page A4

» Brandon leads the province with 120 active cases

“What we’re starting to see, and we saw it first with our Maple Leaf employees in Brandon, is there’s a certain stigma in the community … people automatically think they have COVID or are carrying it,” he said.

“We are watching it very closely and if there are additional cases this week we’ll probably have a lot more to say.”

According to a memo sent through UFCW, the union was made aware of the first positive case on Monday and the second on Tuesday. The person last worked at the store on Aug. 18 and 20.

Sobeys did not respond to a request for comment on the situation on Wednesday.

Twenty-five new cases of COVID-19 were also announced in Manitoba on Wednesday, including eight in the Prairie Mountain Health Region.

There are now 1,043 confirmed cases of the virus in the province and 363 in the local health region.

One new case was announced in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, seven new cases in the Southern Health Region and nine new cases in Winnipeg.

Brandon continues to lead the province with 120 active cases. Another 109 people have recovered in the city.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 3.1 per cent, but the high rate is affected by positive results from targeting known clusters, according to the province.

The province also announced three new potential exposures to the virus in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, including two in Brandon.

The first was on Aug. 18 and 19 at the GoodLife Fitness in Brandon between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. both days. Exposure may have also occurred at Coffee Culture on Victoria Avenue on Aug. 18 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The third was at the Foxtail Café in Wasagaming on Aug. 11 and Aug. 14 to 17 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

There are eight people currently in hospital and one is in intensive care. There are 408 active cases of the virus in Manitoba and the number of deaths remains at 13.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_