At least 145 employees at Costco in Washington have contracted with COVID

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Costco COVID ‘superspreader’ outbreak: At least 145 employees at Washington megastore contract warn virus and health officials more could be infected

  • At least 145 employees at Union Gap, Washington Costco, have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Tuesday
  • The store, which employs 383 people, remains open despite the outbreak
  • Officials say they don’t know the cause of the outbreak, but the wave ‘mimics the type of activity that happens after some sort of superspreader event’
  • Officials say the number of infections has risen rapidly from 68 on Thursday to 145 on Monday, and they say more cases are likely to emerge

By Marlene Lenthang For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

At least 145 employees at a Costco store in Washington state contracted COVID-19 in a massive outbreak that officials say is comparable to a “ superspreader event. ”

The infections at the Union Gap site, which employs 383 people, were first reported on Tuesday after store-wide testing.

Yakima County health officials said the wave of cases is “ mimicking the kind of activity that happens after some sort of superspreader event where several people are infected at the same time. ”

Now officials are trying to find out how the outbreak started.

A COVID-19 outbreak at a Costco store in Washington state has resulted in at least 145 employees contracting the virus, and the sudden wave of infections is akin to a `` superspreader event, '' officials said Tuesday. A view of the Union Gap, Washington Costco where the oubreak above took place

A COVID-19 outbreak at a Costco store in Washington state has resulted in at least 145 employees contracting the virus, and the sudden wave of infections is akin to a “ superspreader event, ” officials said Tuesday. A view of the Union Gap, Washington Costco where the oubreak above took place

The Union Gap location employs 383 people and will remain open with coronavirus prevention measures. Costco is one of the stores that has been busy with shoppers during the pandemic as it sells food and basic necessities. A depiction of shoppers at a Costco in Vermont in August above

The Union Gap location employs 383 people and will remain open with coronavirus prevention measures. Costco is one of the stores that engaged with shoppers during the pandemic as it sells food and basic supplies. A depiction of shoppers at a Costco in Vermont in August above

Officials say the number of infections has risen rapidly from 68 on Thursday to 145 on Monday, and they say more cases could arise.

“As Costco continues to test the entire site, we expect the number of cases to continue to rise in the coming days as the results are received,” said Melissa Sixberry, director of disease control in Yakima County, according to KOMO News.

Despite the outbreak, the store is allowed to remain open and all 145 workers who tested positive are isolated.

However, officials say the outbreak is not an isolated incident but is a reflection of an increase in the number of cases across the state.

COVID-19 activity levels continue to increase across the province. We need the help of the community to also follow the COVID-19 safety recommendations so we can keep workplaces safe, so we can keep schools safe, so we can protect each other by not overwhelming our health system, ” Dr. Larry Jecha, interim health officer for Yakima County, said.

As of Tuesday, Yakima County registered a total of 19,281 coronavirus cases and 314 deaths.

Nationwide, more than 19 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 342,000 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.

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