D.C. Whole Foods Stays Open Even as Company Confirms Workers Have COVID-19 | Eater DC

"Workers at the Logan Circle Whole Foods in Washington, D.C., told multiple news outlets that as many as 16 colleagues contracted COVID-19 while the store remained open without informing shoppers; customers had been lined up in a blocks-long, social-distancing queue waiting to empty shelves of organic flour, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter while employees in medical masks checked them out from behind plexiglass partitions. Reports vary: CBS affiliate WUSA9 independently confirmed six cases and later corrected an earlier anonymous claim of a dozen after the company contradicted an assertion that the store had not undergone a deep cleaning; The New York Times published a report that a worker passed a note claiming 16 confirmed employee cases; a Whole Foods text on April 13 confirmed four employee cases and said the last known case was April 9, and company representatives described “multiple team members” as infected. Whole Foods told workers the store had undergone enhanced cleanings and offered unpaid leave through April for those uncomfortable coming to work, and the company said employees at four of its five D.C. locations have tested positive." - Gabe Hiatt