The owners of the Newnham IGA hit by a COVID scare on Monday have chosen to pay three quarantining casual employees their usual salary.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The three shopkeepers were thrust into quarantine on Monday when the shop was alerted a COVID positive 15-year-old had been to the store.
Manager Sandra Boland said the owners had chosen to pay the casual staff because "it wasn't their fault they can't work".
"They appreciate everything they've done to work throughout the pandemic, so they decided to continue paying them," she said.
The IGA was alerted about 10am with news the 15-year-old had left quarantine and visited the shop.
The 16-year-old shop attendant who served the positive 15-year-old and his family member was ordered to quarantine for 14 days.
Two other shop attendants working at the time of the exposure were ordered to quarantine for five days.
Footage of the COVID-positive teenager taken by the supermarket CCTV showed he was riding a scooter through the store and that it did not appear he had touched anything.
It showed he was unmasked and did not check in, but sanitised his hands on the way out.
Ms Boland said the footage was reviewed to work out exactly when the case had been through the store.
She said it was disappointing the teenager had broken quarantine and urged others to not be complacent about COVID.
She said the IGA had continued to enforce strict public health measures throughout the pandemic, and hoped it would hold them in good stead while tracing and testing of the exposure carried out.
"We follow a lot of public health protocols and do the right things and we've been okayed by the Department of Health," she said.
This is exactly why we've done what we've done. This is why we have a separate entry. This is why we sanitise our baskets after they are used.
- Newnham IGA manager Sandra Boland
The COVID positive case and his family member were in the shop for a few minutes and an exposure window has been declared between 2.20pm and 2.45pm on Saturday October 2.
For the IGA, after a clean of the premises, now business was loss it will be functioning as usual.
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor:
More from Coronavirus
DAILY
Your morning news
Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
