(Farimount) — The rumors had been swirling among employees at the Whole Foods Market in Fairmount for days.

“Someone mentioned they heard someone might be sick,” said one worker. A few days later, store leadership started telling people “one-by-one,” they continued.

“I found out from a text from another front-end team member,” said another employee.

After days of nervous gossip, the company sent a message through its emergency notification system on April 29: a worker had tested positive for COVID-19. One employee said they were told by management separately that the person had gone home sick a week prior.

Whole Foods confirmed to Keystone Crossroads that there has been one confirmed case at its Fairmount location, but declined to share specifics out of privacy concerns.

Whether due to testing delays, privacy concerns, or the slow adoption of new means of communication, days can pass between when a sick Whole Foods employee begins staying home, and when their colleagues learn of a case of COVID-19 in the workplace.

For companies, there’s a balancing act between communicating accurate, vetted information and keeping workers in the loop about the evolving health risks of the job.

For workers, in the absence of clear communication, fearful questions can arise: If I had been working closely with someone now known to have COVID-19, could I have done something better to protect myself and my family if I had been warned sooner?

“I feel lied to,” said one Fairmount Whole Foods employee, who asked to remain anonymous out of concerns for job safety. Keystone Crossroads spoke with three current employees of the store to confirm and cross-check this account. All described a lag in notification, along with uneven safety precautions, that make them feel uneasy.

“We have one break room. We all share lockers and computers and bathrooms,” continued the same employee, who said it was “scary” to have had to wait “to know that we may have unknowingly come into contact with the virus.”

Part of that delay may have been due to the time it takes to get a test result, another worker said. Still, “[the company] knew on Tuesday and they didn’t tell everyone,” said the employee, who had learned of the case when a friend in the same store was quarantined due to exposure the day before the emergency notification went out.

Grocery stores and their workers have been trying, and sometimes struggling, to balance safety with high demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Whole Foods put in place crowd control measures, installed plexiglass barriers, provided face masks to employees and instituted stricter cleaning protocols, among other safety enhancements. These new procedures have largely become standard industry-wide, although adoption and policies can vary between chains and even store to store.

Kimberly Paynter / WHYY

A flyer posted with grocery worker’s demands outside the Whole Foods grocery in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood.

“The safety of our Team Members and customers is our top priority and we are diligently following all guidance from local health and food safety authorities,” said Whole Foods Market spokesperson Spencer Taylor. “We’ve been working closely with our store Team Members, and are supporting the diagnosed Team Member,  who is in quarantine.”

A second text notification announcing another confirmed case went out Monday night.

‘More information’

Employees interviewed said they do not know which of their colleagues has COVID-19, but that some workers who had contact with the person are quarantining.

Unlike some other stores, such as ShopRite and Fresh Grocer, Whole Foods does not notify the public when an employee tests positive, or share when they last worked.

There are legal reasons to be discreet in naming individuals, which would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Employers should inform employees that possible exposure has occurred in the workplace without disclosing any identifying information about the individual who tested positive,” guidance posted by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Naming individuals is distinct from sharing general information about a possible exposure, however.

“The argument for letting people know as quickly as possible is because if they’re having to wait an extended period of time — before they know that they’ve been around someone who has tested positive — they actually could have been infectious during that time period themselves,” said Krys Johnson, assistant professor of instruction in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Temple University. That could put their friends and family members at risk, “especially considering there are so many asymptomatic cases.”

On the flip side, she points out that not even state governments agree on a best practice. Pennsylvania is more conservative in releasing any information about the whereabouts of people who tested positive to prevent them from being stigmatized, a policy Johnson said is “a holdover” from dealing with outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases.

“Considering the highly contagious nature of this disease, it’s more important to err on the side of giving people more information to be more proactive about their health,” Johnson said.

In the words of another Whole Foods employee at the Fairmount store, not knowing was “not cool.”

“I wish that they would have sent out something sooner,” they said, “if the person’s symptoms were severe enough to have them do a deep clean of the store.”

Wonky scanners and other safety issues

As stores roll out new safety measures to try to protect staff and customers, some say efforts such as mandatory body temperature checks are flawed and may end up backfiring.

“The temperature guns don’t work,” said one Whole Foods employee at the Fairmount location, echoing workers at several stores.

“It’s completely unreliable,” said a veteran employee at the company’s Devon location who was scanned at 91 degrees Fahrenheit. “I pretty much have hypothermia at that point.” That Chester County store has had four confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the employee.

The infrared temperature sensors have become widely adopted by governments and businesses attempting to limit the spread of the virus. But the devices have been criticized by medical officials as ineffective, especially when wielded by colleagues who may not take the measurements consistently or precisely.

Whole Foods employees describe inconsistent results and patchy use of the tools. There may not be anyone at the door to scan first thing in the morning.

“It just seems very poorly organized and orchestrated… I don’t feel valued, you know,” said the Devon location employee.

Sales at Whole Foods rose by 8% during the first quarter, which coincided with the beginning of the pandemic and parent company Amazon saw revenues jump 26%, according to a report from Vox. However, the grocer says much of those profits will disappear as they change workflows and invest in new safety equipment.

Keystone Crossroads is a statewide reporting collaborative of WITF, WPSU and WESA, led by WHYY. This story originally appeared at https://whyy.org/programs/keystone-crossroads.