A facility is considered the site of an outbreak after two or more COVID-19 cases among staffers, customers or others are confirmed within a fourteen-day period, or two or more cases of respiratory illness with an onset of symptoms within a fourteen-day period are paired with at least one additional COVID-19 diagnosis. Eight positive novel coronavirus cases are linked to the Capitol Hill King Soopers.
The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment "immediately responded upon being notified of several positive COVID-19 cases at King Soopers on May 9," explains Heather Burke, a spokesperson with the city's Joint Information Center. "Emails and phone calls were exchanged with the store manager that day to discuss employee schedules, what King Soopers had already implemented well before (as far as disease prevention protocols and procedures), and next steps."
The next step for many readers was to weigh in with their comments: Says Chris:
The COVID tattletale strikes again.Counters Jean:
We need to do better. Two weeks ago, people wouldn’t even go outside! Do people really think this virus just disappeared because the spread went down? They are going to reverse our months of hard work!Adds Stacey:
When we go to the grocery, we each carry a disinfecting wipes in a baggy and we wipe down all handles before we open them and again when we close them, just for that reason.Responds Ti:
Let’s hope there’s not many infected customers. When we did our shopping we were one of the first in the store at our local King Soopers. Very few of the night time stockers wore protective masks and quite a few of the early morning checkers wore the mask under their nose.But then there's this from Tracy:
Seriously!!?? Do we need to report every person who gets sick? It's a respiratory illness, it happens all the time and it's ok for people to get sick. Please stop making this more than it is. Your silly reporting is most of the problem.Adds Christopher:
I guess sooner or later, it will sink in that there's literally nothing you can do to avoid this, other than hiding under your bed with a vacuum bag over your head and saran wrap around your body for the next two years—and even then, you'll just end up getting hit with one of the mutated strains anyway.And Jeffrey gets the final word (for now):
You mean the King Soopers on 9th......and CORONA?!!! ????The store remains open. "DDPHE conducted a site visit on May 11 to assess compliance of the orders at the time of the inspection," says Burke, and its inspection determined that the store was following the rules, and business could continue. "Communication between the facility and DDPHE is currently ongoing," she notes.
And communication with commenters continues, too. What do you think of the city and state rules for grocery stores and other businesses? Of customer compliance? Of our coverage? Post a comment or email your thoughts to [email protected].
