The Wawa convenience store on North Bridge Avenue in Red Bank remained closed Friday, four days after it was temporarily shuttered in response to an employee’s COVID-19 positive test result, according to a notice on the door.
The posting said the unidentified “associate” last worked in the store November 5, and that “immediate action” was taken after his or her test.
The shop was closed “to have it professionally cleaned and disinfected” and “will reopen as soon as possible with associates from neighboring stores, if needed,” the notice said.
Further information was not available. The closing was first reported Tuesday by TapInto Red Bank.
Other Wawa stores have also closed as a result of the pandemic.
The Wawa store in Princeton, the town’s only 24-hour convenience store, was closed Thursday “after an employee who recently worked in the store tested positive for COVID-19,” according to Planet Princeton. And in recent months, at least five Wawa stores in eastern Pennsylvania have closed for the same reason, according to another report.
COVID-19 case totals have been rising rapidly nationally, and again in New Jersey after declining through the summer. On Thursday, the state Department of Health has reported 12,547 new positive test results since Monday, with hospitalizations also on the rise. Health Commissioner Deborah Persichilli said the figures should serve as “a wake-up call” to residents about the need for continued hand-washing and social distancing.
In Red Bank, a cumulative 469 borough residents have tested positive since the start of the pandemic in March, with 62 since November 1, Monmouth County officials said Thursday.
(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
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