Kelly Kenoyer
An employee at Safeway tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, Oct. 5, and is now quarantining, according to Safeway public relations and several staff at Safeway.
A city employee experienced mild cold-like symptoms last week that turned out to be – COVID-19.
Those cases are in addition to five others reported in the 97386 ZIP code area in the last week, which represents a more than 20 percent increase in the total cases reported in Sweet Home.
The COVID-positive Safeway employee typically works in the Starbucks department, and her last shift was Sept. 29.
Safeway Spokesperson Andrew Whelan said in a statement, “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the associate who tested positive and we hope for a full recovery. That associate is now receiving medical care. Following CDC guidelines, our Human Resources team may recommend that additional members of the store team self-quarantine.”
Staff at Safeway’s Starbucks shop said Monday that they had worked with the positive staff member and were initially required to work their shifts, even after the test came back positive.
Whelan added that employees will be eligible for 14 days of quarantine pay, and that the store has been cleaned multiple times since the employee last worked.
“The store will remain open and we will continue to follow an enhanced cleaning, sanitizing and/or disinfecting process in every department,” he said. “We’ve supplied reusable masks for all front-line employees, and we require them to wear the masks at work. We also require associates to participate in daily health screens.”
“Should they develop COVID-related symptoms as outlined by CDC, then they are to stay home and call their healthcare provider right away.”
Meanwhile, former The New Era reporter Sean Morgan, who now is the Police Department’s community services officer, was notified over the weekend that he had contracted the virus.
“I’m officially positive,” he said Monday.
Morgan said he had been home since he came down with a cough last Tuesday, and got tested Thursday.
“I started coming down with a cough, and you’re supposed to stay home with that.
“I have no idea where the exposure was,” he said, adding that he expects to be quarantined for a couple of weeks.
“It’s been extremely mile, compared to the stories you hear. I’ve had much worse colds than this.”
County Spokesperson Michelle Duncan said the health department will do contact tracing with the COVID-positive person to determine who has been exposed to them. An exposure is defined as spending 15 minutes or more within six feet of the person.
“If they find that there is a list of people identified by that, then the public health people working in conjunction with the Oregon Health Authority to determine next steps for employees and staff at the facility, which could be normal testing, quarantine, or whatever else they deem necessary,” Duncan said.
Amber Steinborn, a family member of an exposed employee told The New Era that the exposed employee is quarantining for eight days on the recommendation of the department of health and human services, but has received little guidance from Safeway.
She said another employee has symptoms of COVID but hasn’t yet received results, and a third is quarantined alongside her family member.
“I am especially vested in this situation not only because my mother is in the high-risk community for COVID (stage 4 terminal breast cancer), but my children also go to the Charter School and if COVID spreads out there, we will be shut down so fast,” Steinborn said. “Safeway has an obligation to their community to step up and do the right thing here.”
Last week showed a significant spike in COVID numbers for Sweet Home: five new cases in the week of Sept. 23-30. That’s a large shift, considering the 97386 zip code had had just 19 cases before that week. Those numbers do not include the positive case at Safeway, or any other cases since Sept. 30.
The state of Oregon set a dubious record for COVID cases on Sept. 25: 457 new cases in one day, the highest single-day total for the state since the beginning of the pandemic. Linn County has had a total of 575 cases and 13 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to the Center for Disease Control, COVID-19 spreads very easily, especially when an infected person is in close contact with others, or is in an enclosed, poorly ventilated space. Aerial droplets are the most common cause of infection, much more so than contact with contaminated surfaces, according to CDC guidelines.
Public health guidelines in Oregon require citizens to wear a face covering in indoor public places and outside whenever social distancing is impossible.
Stay 6 feet away from those who do not live in your household, and wash your hands.
Stay home if you feel any symptoms of COVID-19, including a fever, chills, or a cough, and self-quarantine if you have been exposed to a positive COVID case.
Morgan said that’s what he will be doing.
“That’s the responsible thing, to stay home.”