The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit has officially declared a workplace outbreak at the Walmart in Wallaceburg after four employees tested positive for COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the health unit previously said an outbreak had not been declared because it was believed the employees had contracted the virus outside of the workplace. However, the situation changed after a fourth positive case was confirmed.
The public health unit declared a ninth active workplace outbreak on Friday.
"Our contact tracing has not confirmed that transmission is happening in the workplace, but at this time workplace transmission cannot be ruled out as the cases could have shared work areas," said Jeff Moco on behalf of CK Public Health. "There is no common source of exposure that has been identified outside of the workplace."
Moco said store employees who may have been exposed are expected to get tested for COVID-19 over the weekend. All close contacts have been notified by public health officials to self-isolate.CK Public Health said store patrons have not been identified as cases or contacts and the risk to the public is very low.
"Anyone who has not been contacted by CK Public Health does not need to be concerned about exposure risk," said Moco. "CK Public Health continues to investigate and manage the situation.”
Moco confirmed that the health unit has not ordered the Wallaceburg Walmart to close.
Since March, there have been a total of 20 workplace outbreaks in Chatham-Kent.
The health unit reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent on Friday but 27 cases were also marked as resolved. The number of active cases is down slightly to 114.