Denver King Soopers employee tests positive

A Denver King Soopers employee has tested positive for the novel coronavirus as the grocery chain grapples with panicked shoppers restocking stores.

An employee who worked at the King Soopers in LoDo at 1950 Chestnut Place was receiving medical care and recovering, spokeswoman Jessica Trowbridge said Sunday. The employee last worked at the store on March 6, Trowbridge said.

The store remains open, Trowbridge said. “We’ve followed all cleaning and sanitation procedures.”

Inside the store, fellow workers said the infected worked in the pharmacy. They wore rubber gloves and said they’d wiped down much of the store. They said they closed the salad bar and a soup bar in an effort to reduce the risk of exposure inside King Sooper.

Store hours have been adjusted to give employees more time to restock shelves. And employees at the LoDo King Soopers said they’ve been told that if they test positive for the virus or receive a quarantine order they’ll be allowed to take paid sick time off.

As of Sunday evening, at least 135 people had tested positive across Colorado for the novel coronavirus. One person, a woman in her 80s in El Paso County, died after becoming infected.

Overwhelmed by shoppers, King Soopers on Saturday announced it was reducing store hours at all locations in the state to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., rather than the usual 5 a.m. to midnight. The move was intended to give employees a chance to restock.

On Sunday, King Soopers also enacted its emergency leave policy, which allows paid time off for employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or employees put under quarantine because of the highly contagious respiratory disease, Trowbridge said in a statement.

A variety of organizations across the state have closed, canceled events or postponed activities in an attempt to mitigate the virus’ spread as authorities urged residents to avoid close contact with other people.