SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—New Leaf Community Market has closed its Aptos location after seven employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The company made the announcement on its website on Tuesday, saying the store will stay closed “until further notice.”
The announcement came four days after the store closed for a one-day deep cleaning after one employee tested positive for the virus.
Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said that the cases are the county’s first “cluster” of COVID-19 patients. But she stressed that shoppers should not be concerned if they were in the store recently.
“The usual grocery shopping practices are very low risk for being exposed to COVID-19,” Newel said during a press conference on Thursday. “In general, a person would need to be within six feet of an unmasked person for several minutes or even longer in order to be any significant risk of getting COVID-19.”
Such contact, she added, would be unusual in a typical grocery shopping situation.
Newel said that county health officials are monitoring the people with whom the employees had contact, and asking them to monitor their symptoms for 14 days.
Because grocery stores have been listed as essential business, all employees are being asked to come to work as long as they are not showing symptoms of the disease.
Newel praised the company’s handling of the situation.
“Every indication was that New Leaf was following all appropriate COVID-19 protocols,” she said. “Very forthcoming and proactive in working with us.”
Also during the press conference, Newel said that her order that anyone going to an essential business must wear a face mask will go into effect at midnight April 24.
Under that order, shoppers must wear masks and businesses must refuse service to those who do not.
Failure to comply with the order is a misdemeanor punishable by fines, jail time or both.
Newel also expressed concern about the county’s supply of Personal Protective Equipment such as face masks and gowns, saying that they receive about 30 percent of what they order.
The county is also short on test kits for COVID-19, Newel said, but officials expect more within about two weeks.
“Testing is certainly a big issue,” Newel said. “It has been all along as you know. We are not meeting public demand at all.”
Newel gave no hint as to when the current Shelter-in-Place order will be lifted, saying that decision will be based on data and on the number of cases.
“Think of it as a dimmer switch you need to constantly adjust,” she said. “That we’re going to need to lift and restrict and lift and restrict to respond to outbreaks and clusters in our county.”
There were 114 known COVID-19 cases in the county as of Wednesday, including two deaths. There have been 18 hospitalizations and 62 people have recovered.
