A mart in the region has temporarily closed due to a Covid outbreak.
Hexham Mart will remain closed until an expected re-opening date of Monday, July 20, due to the outbreak, with several staff members having tested positive for coronavirus in recent days.
“The health of the staff is paramount,” said the Mart’s managing director Robert Addison.
“We’re all getting tested and hopefully we’ll be up and running again next week.
“There was one or two issues that came to light over the weekend, so we made the decision that we wouldn’t have a sale today (Tuesday)
“There was quite a lot of us who have to mandatory isolate, so there’s that and the health of the staff and everybody.
“We’re hoping to reopen as soon as possible. Monday we’ve earmarked.
Although the number of people who have tested positive for Covid as part of the outbreak is low, Robert admitted that the decision has been taken with everyone’s safety as the main priority.
“One or two people over the weekend felt unwell and went for a test and they turned out positive and we just thought well, there’s a business aspect to it, but more importantly the health aspect of the staff and also the customers who potentially would have been here,” added Robert.
“We’ve had a deep clean on Sunday around the office part and the workings of the mart and hopefully that will manifest itself and a steroid period it will settle down.
“We’ve never had a outbreak (until now). We’ve been remarkably lucky. I don’t think there was any cases within the staff.
“It isn’t a big number (of positive cases) but it’s enough to be a nuisance.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel