An employee working at the Culver City Costco location at 13463 Washington Blvd., Marina Del Rey, tested positive for COVID-19, the company revealed in a letter to employees on Saturday. According to the letter, the diagnosed employee was a part of the Club Demonstration Services (CDS) department, which focuses on in-house marketing of products, including food samples. The employee generally worked from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and their last work day was March 17.
“As a company, we have an immediate response for these events, and have implemented them here,” the letter read. This response includes contacting the “local health department” and complying with any guidelines they recommended, as well as enforcing additional enhanced sanitation and cleaning protocols. The company will also reach out to coworkers of the individual who were known to have been in close contact and are at risk for infection.
In a memo released on March 27, Costco outlined new coronavirus guidelines, including shopping hours for vulnerable populations from 8 to 9 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays starting on March 31.
Other notable.changes included US locations changing closing time to 6:30 on weekdays, mandating employees to monitor the distance between customers and to clean high touch objects like pin pads and registers every 15 minutes, and only keeping every other register open during operating hours.
According to a tweet by Buzzfeed reporter Brianna Sacks which also includes a picture of the aforementioned letter, Sacks said that workers at Costco told her that people with hazmat suits came and cleaned the location. Buzzfeed published a story by Sacks just eight days before the announcement on March 20 featuring the Culver City Costco location focusing on how they don’t feel adequately equipped to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.