Worcester Walmart Coronavirus Outbreak: 275 Workers Tested

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester city officials, local health workers, and Walmart were able to get 275 employees tested for coronavirus on Thursday, a step toward reopening the Tobias Boland Way store after an outbreak was detected there this week.

But city officials won't let the store reopen until all 400 employees get tested and receive their results. The remaining employees will be tested on Friday morning, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said Thursday. The testing is being coordinated by Worcester EMS and UMass Memorial.

"Clearly tomorrow won't be the day," Augustus said about the Walmart reopening on Friday.

City officials shut the Walmart down on Wednesday afternoon after 23 employees there tested positive for coronavirus — a majority of those only within the last week. Augustus said local residents contacted city officials about the outbreak through social media, and then public health workers were able to verify the cases.

It's unclear what Walmart knew about the cases before city officials. A company spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Patch on Thursday.

A Walmart spokesperson said Wednesday night that the company was planning to close the Tobias Boland Way store on Thursday for cleaning and restocking "in response to the high cases of COVID-19 in and around the community."

"After engaging and coordinating with local officials, we adjusted the time of the closure a few hours earlier, to [Wednesday]," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, officials announced a new outbreak in Worcester at the Albion rooming house. Eighteen out of 58 residents there tested positive, and they are now in isolation in the Main Street building.

Citywide, Worcester added 82 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the pandemic total to 2,071. There have been 106 deaths at Worcester's main hospitals, an increase of four over Wednesday. Another 269 are being treated for coronavirus at the city's hospitals, with 107 of those in intensive care.

Augustus noted that 94 percent of the city's coronavirus cases were detected in April, an average of 65 per day.