SCARBOROUGH — An employee at the Scarborough Hannaford supermarket has tested positive for COVID-19, and two Scarborough town employees have also tested positive, town and company officials have said.
Eric Blom, a spokesman for Hannaford Supermarkets, confirmed via email to The Forecaster on Thursday morning that an employee at the Scarborough store had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, March 28. He declined to identify the employee nor the employee’s position but said the associate had not worked at the store “for several days” prior to testing positive.
“In an abundance of caution, we conducted a voluntary deep and thorough cleaning at the store,” Blom said. “This deep cleaning was in addition to our ongoing, rigorous sanitary practices, and those practices have been greatly expanded during the health crisis.”
On Wednesday night, Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall said the town employees tested positive over the past two days.
“Let that be a lesson to us that it’s alive and well among us,” Hall said at the first virtual meeting of the Scarborough Town Council.
On Thursday, Hall said both staff members were resting at home and did not need hospitalization.
“We expect full recovery,” he said.
The pair of employees join the one other known person who has contracted COVID-19 in Scarborough, in a case confirmed last weekend at the local Hannaford supermarket.
Hall said the town had put a hiring freeze in place and furloughed all part-time employees.
Hall did not identify the infected staff members, or describe their positions in-depth, but when asked later by The Forecaster if they normally worked in offices, he said both employees’ positions usually involve interactions with the public.
However, new protocols put in place by the town at least two weeks ago Hall said, meant that one employee works in what he called a “very isolated” environment. The other, he said, “is out in the field,” but was following the town’s rules forbidding direct contact with others in performing their duties, and did not need to interact with anyone.
Hall said the staff members were tested through their medical providers, as the town does not administer testing. He said the town has not considered establishing a system for staff testing, largely due to the nationwide lack of available test kits.
To his knowledge, no other town employee has been tested for the or COVID-19 coronavirus, Hall said. Two other staff members suspected they had symptoms, but to his knowledge they have not been tested or confirmed and are self-isolating.
Hall said Thursday morning that he does not have data on how many Scarborough residents have tested positive, if any. Public safety officials have likely been informed, but he said that data is not being made available to the public.
In Scarborough, it is the town manager’s responsibility to declare a state of emergency, but unlike neighboring communities, Hall said he was not prepared to do that yet. Orders issued by Gov. Janet Mills statewide Tuesday to residents regarding staying at home whenever possible are sufficient to address public needs without declaring an emergency locally, he said.
“I just have not seen the need to do so yet,” Hall told the council.
All town councilors, Hall and Town Clerk Tody Justice attended the meeting via teleconferencing software. Much of the agenda covered routine town business, but the council did vote unanimously to waive interest on unpaid taxes until July 16, mirroring efforts made by other communities.
During closing comments, officials offered words of encouragement to the public. Councilor Betsy Gleysteen reminded viewers that all of the councilors are available, and encouraged citizens to reach out with questions or comments about anything.
“We’re going to need to hear from you now more than ever,” she said.
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