Grocery retailers holding their own in COVID-19 fight, but doctor warns against complacency

Nova Scotia's major grocery stores are some of the most visited businesses during this pandemic but so far there are only 11 reported cases of employees with COVID-19.

Lawtons, owned by Sobeys, has also reported one infected employee at one of its pharmacies.

All of the cases are in the Halifax metro area, with the exception of one Atlantic Superstore employee in New Glasgow. That reflects the provincial pattern of positive tests and identified cases, most of them in the Halifax region, as well.

Sobeys, which posts the number of infected employees by province, has reported four infected employees in April, one at its Forest Hills Parkway store in Dartmouth, two at the Herring Cove Road location and one at the Lawtons on Mumford Road in Halifax.

Loblaw Atlantic said it has had six employees test positive for COVID-19 in its Superstores in April — one at the Portland Street store in Dartmouth, one at its Bedford location, three at its Braemar store in Dartmouth and one in New Glasgow.

Walmart Canada, which has grocery stores within its superstores, reports there have been two infected employees —one at the Halifax Mumford Road store and the other in Dartmouth.

Halifax family physician Dr. Ajantha Jayabarathan said those numbers should not provide a false sense of security.

"The fact is they have been identified, but does that mean we've identified everybody who has been exposed or infected? I think the answer would be no," she said. 

She said there can be pre-symptomatic spread, meaning people can infect others three days before showing symptoms, and asymptomatic spread, where people have the virus and can spread it but don't show any symptoms. She said up to 25 per cent of the population could be asymptomatic.

Dr. Jayabarathan said "high-touch" places like grocery stores, pharmacies and doctors' offices need extra precautions.

Sobeys, Walmart and Loblaw Superstores in Nova Scotia say they are doing that.

Response varies by company

Superstore locations have startled some customers by closing their doors as soon as they discover an employee has tested positive.

"As a company, we made a decision early on that if we were notified that a store colleague had tested for COVID-19 that we would shut the store down," Loblaw Atlantic director Mark Boudreau told CBC in an email.

"The moment we find out, we close the store immediately. We are not required to do this by public health officials, but we do it out of an abundance of caution, and to confirm with customers that the health and safety of our colleagues and customers is a priority," Boudreau said.

He said closing gives them time to consult with Public Health and allow a third-party professional company to do "a deep clean and sanitization" of the entire store, followed by another round of cleaning by staff.

Following protocols

At Sobeys, stores are not closed, but a spokesperson told CBC when an employee tests positive for COVID-19 they immediately follow Public Health's direction and have clear protocols in place.

"Public Health reviews our cleaning procedures and advises if we need to close a department or store for additional cleaning," spokesperson Natasha Compton said in an email, noting their "sanitation activities that take place multiple times during the day exceed Public Health's standards and we did not have to close these stores."

She said in each of the four diagnosed cases, Public Health's assessment of risk to customers was low.

Sobeys, like Superstore and Walmart, has implemented numerous measures within stores, including physical distancing and limiting the number of customers allowed into the store at one time.

Walmart said it took advice from local public health officials on whether a store should remain open and did not close its stores.

A Walmart spokesperson said their stores follow a number of measures aimed at protecting their customers and employees, including regular enhanced cleanings in the store.

"We've started implementing associate temperature checks in our distribution centres and are starting to roll out the program for associates in our stores as well," Adam Grachnik, Walmart's director of corporate affairs, said in an email.

He said the company has started distributing masks and gloves for associates and recommend that associates wear masks while at work.

Grachnik said, after the company became aware one of its employees at its Mumford Road store was diagnosed with the virus, "Out of an abundance of caution, a number of associates have self-isolated and as a precaution we conducted a deep cleaning."

He said the company has been in contact with Public Health and have regular enhanced cleaning in the store. 

Dr. Jayabarathan said trying to keep up with the virus is an uphill battle for any high-traffic business.

"You can do a complete cleansing and then if someone arrives who has the virus on their hands and then touches different things in the store, you're right back to square one," she said.

Virus not going away

She said how people think about containing the virus needs to evolve, including personal protective equipment like masks and gloves for both employees and customers of high-traffic businesses.

Dr. Jayabarathan believes the risk of transmitting the virus to someone else is going to be present for some time to come.

"There's a lot we don't know about this virus and, while we're figuring it out, I think being proactive and forewarned, using masks and using methods where we actually think about what we're doing to keep ourselves and others safe, has never been more important," she said.