COVID-19 outbreaks at SoCal warehouse stores on the rise

COVID-19 outbreaks at warehouse stores increasing

More coronavirus outbreaks are occurring among employees at big box warehouse stores, officials reported Jan. 5.

LOS ANGELES - Essential workers at big-box stores and warehouses across Los Angeles County are seeing an increase in COVID-19 outbreaks, officials said.

County officials define an outbreak as more than three cases of infection in a 14-day period.

With the total number of cases nearing the one million mark at just over 827,498 as of Monday, major chains like Costco, Target and The Home Depot are seeing clusters of coronavirus infections among employees.

At least six Amazon facilities are experiencing an outbreak of 20 active cases or more and the Amazon warehouse in El Monte has 66 reported cases, according to the LA County Health Department.

In addition, at least seven Costco warehouses have reported outbreaks of more than 15 workers and the Costco Wholesale located on Washington Blvd. in Marina Del Rey reported 71 cases of COVID-19.

And there's more.

Popular retailer Fashion Nova Logistics, Inc. in Santa Fe Springs reported 143 cases among employees at that facility. Other facilities seeing outbreaks include multiple FedEx warehouses, the 99 Cents Only Store Warehouse in Commerce, and several local Chik-Fil-A restaurants.

As many as eight Home Depot stores across LA County have also reported outbreaks among employees.

A labor union representing 1.3 million workers in the United States is demanding frontline grocery workers have guaranteed access to vaccines. After nearly 150 employees at a Costco in Washington tested positive, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union is calling on grocery CEO’s to work with governors to guarantee vaccine access to their frontline employees.

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