Although British Columbia is seeing coronavirus (COVID-19) case counts drop province-wide, and the lowest daily new case numbers since last fall, major grocery chains are still reporting employee virus cases affecting stores in Vancouver and surrounding municipalities.
Sobeys, Inc., which operates familiar grocery stores Safeway and Thrifty Foods and is the franchisor of discount grocery chain FreshCo in B.C., reported a new case at its Safeway store on Davie Street in Vancouver with the worker’s last shift on June 1. The case wasn’t reported online until June 9.
Loblaw Companies Ltd, the parent company of Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart, and other local chains, provided updates to its COVID-19 employee case listings, indicating multiple cases at the following store locations in the Metro Vancouver region:
- Shoppers Drug Mart, 1306 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver: Employee last worked May 30
- Real Canadian Superstore on 104 Avenue in Surrey. Last day worked on June 2
- Lonsdale City Market, 1650 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver: Employees last worked May 24, 26
- Real Canadian Superstore, 3000 Lougheed Hwy., Coquitlam: Employee last worked May 27
- Real Canadian Superstore, 1301 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam: Employee last worked May 29
- Dean's No Frills Vancouver, 4508 Fraser Street, Vancouver: Employee last worked May 30
- Shoppers Drug Mart, 102-22441 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge: Employee last worked June 2
While T&T Supermarket is owned by Loblaw, the Canadian Asian grocery chain lists its COVID-19 cases separately on its own site. T&T has not had any cases in any of its British Columbia stores in the last 14 days.
T&T is now announcing on its website the percentage of its staff nationwide that has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. As of June 4, the grocery company reports 90% of its staff have had their first shots, a figure above the national and provincial average.
Last week, T&T stores in Burnaby and Richmond were facing criticism about vaccination status and privacy after the Yaohan Centre location posted its store staff vaccination rate on a sign outside the business.
- With additional reporting by Lindsay William-Ross
