An employee at a Walmart in Quincy has died after contracting coronavirus; 10 others have also tested positive.
Eleven employees of a Walmart in Quincy, Massachusetts, have tested positive for coronavirus, and one of those workers has died.
Shoppers were greeted by yellow tape Monday afternoon. The store abruptly shut down around 3:30 p.m.
"We just came over here, but it's closed," said one customer.
The city says the employee who died is a woman who's a senior and lives in Quincy.
"There are no words to express the loss of our associate, and we are mourning alongside their family," Walmart said in a statement.
Quincy Health Commissioner Ruth Jones said the store voluntarily closed to be sanitized. The store will not reopen until after it has been inspected by city health officials, Mayor Thomas Koch said.
The store says it has been taking precautions to safeguard both employees and customers, but the city says it has been getting complaints.
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"I've been watching the amount of cases connected to that store, and we've seen it start to increase, along with complaints from both employees and customers saying the social distancing wasn't being followed," Jones said.
The city also says some employees complained that COVID-positive colleagues were returning to work too early.
"Employees were worried people weren't being careful and allowed to work with symptoms," said Jones.
"They are watching to make sure people have masks, but I think it might have been too little, too late," said shopper Beth Lawless. "I think this is just catching up to them."
Walmart says once it reopens, it will continue to do temperature checks on employees, all of whom will have face masks and gloves while working.
The city says it's likely more employees may test positive, but no customers are known to have tested positive.
As of Monday, more than 80 workers at the Walmart in Worcester have also tested positive for COVID-19.
