During that time, Trader Joe’s said it has had 1,250 reported COVID cases among 53,000 staff members, good for a positive infection rate of approximately 2.4 percent through Saturday, Oct. 31.
“While we do not know the specific details of other grocers, we believe it is important to our crew members and customers to share and understand what has happened in our stores,” the company announced.
According to Trader joe’s, of its 514 stores in 42 states and the District of Columbia, 24 percent had no positive coronavirus cases among their staff over that time frame and 83 percent had zero to four cases.
“We believe that the results in virtually all areas are below the average rates of positive cases in each community where we have stores,” officials said.
There have been two COVID-19-related deaths during the pandemic in Trader Joe’s employees.
“The health and safety practices and procedures that have been put in place, and that continually evolve, have been effective because of the great work done by our crew members in every store, every day,” Trader Joe’s President Jon Basalone said in a statement.
“We appreciate our crew members’ diligence and our customers’ patience as we work each day to make our stores safe for everyone.”
Trader Joe’s officials said that the company was disclosing the information in the wake of other retail giants such as Amazon releasing COVID-19 data involving its employees.
“Recent stories in the media have discussed the number of positive COVID-19 cases among grocery store workers,” Trader Joe’s stated. “While we do not know the specific details of other grocers, we believe it is important to our crew members and customers to share and understand what has happened in our stores from the beginning of the pandemic.”
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