Sheetz closes after worker tests positive

The Sheetz convenience store in Mount Airy has closed temporarily after it was learned that an employee there tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We were notified last night,” a Sheetz spokeswoman said Wednesday from the chain’s headquarters in Altoona, Pennsylvania, regarding that development. The person involved last worked at the store on U.S. 601 on Friday, according to a statement issued by the company and relayed by the spokeswoman.

The disclosure regarding the positive COVID-19 test prompted store officials to shut down the inside of the business to customers along with the gasoline pumps. This was done to allow the entire premises to be cleaned by “a third party,” added the Sheetz source, who declined to supply her full name.

“It’s not permanently closed, it’s just temporary.”

The entrance to the store was barricaded Wednesday with orange traffic cones and a uniformed security officer from Greensboro, who is employed by a private firm, was posted there.

There were conflicting reports then as to when the Mount Airy Sheetz outlet — located in a high-traffic area near the intersection of U.S. 601 (also known as Rockford Street) and Interstate 74 — might reopen.

One employee at the scene indicated that this was going to occur later Wednesday, while the security officer said she had been advised the store would be back up and running again sometime today (Thursday).

All questions directed toward the staff there were referred to the Sheetz headquarters.

The person who addressed the issue from its home office was reluctant to supply a specific timetable for the reopening. “I am not giving a date,” the spokeswoman said, explaining that she did not want to state a time that might prove to be incorrect.

Meanwhile, John Shelton, who is closely monitoring the local coronavirus situation through his role as Surry County’s emergency services director, had no details about the situation at Sheetz when contacted Wednesday.

“I have not heard anything from there,” Shelton said concerning the store’s temporary closure in the wake of the positive test.

He attributed this to the rapid succession of events surrounding COVID-19, which can be hard to assimilate at any given time. “This whole thing is a moving target.”

But Shelton suggested that the test involving the Sheetz employee could be among a new round of results which had not been fully illuminated. “We have had some increase in positive cases,” he said in conjunction with this.

The reaction by Sheetz officials — in shutting down the store and disinfecting the premises — is consistent with the protocol put into motion when someone does contract the disease, according to Shelton.

As of Wednesday, 20 cases of COVID-19 were being reported for Surry County on a state health Website, and one death.

There reportedly was a rumor circulating on the Facebook social media site Wednesday that the Sheetz closure was due to a sewage issue.

The store opened nearly eight years ago, in June 2012, to much fanfare.

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The entrance to Sheetz on U.S. 601 (Rockford Street) is closed to traffic Wednesday in the wake of a store employee testing positive for COVID-19.

https://www.mtairynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/web1_Sheetz-this-1.jpgThe entrance to Sheetz on U.S. 601 (Rockford Street) is closed to traffic Wednesday in the wake of a store employee testing positive for COVID-19.

Gas pumps are shut down at Sheetz Wednesday, along with the inside of the store, to allow a thorough disinfecting.

https://www.mtairynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/web1_Sheetz-this-2.jpgGas pumps are shut down at Sheetz Wednesday, along with the inside of the store, to allow a thorough disinfecting.

Source

Source: https://www.mtairynews.com