Two state liquor stores in Salt Lake City have closed after one employee — who worked at both outlets — tested positive for the coronavirus.
An employee at the downtown store, 205 W. 400 South, tested positive, officials with the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control announced Monday.
The employee had also recently worked at the store at 1255 W. North Temple. Both stores will remain closed until professional sanitation and disinfection are completed by an independent company, DABC spokesman Terry Wood in a news release.
“At present, there is no timetable for reopening,” he said. “We are in contact with the employee and wish for a speedy recovery.”
These are the third and fourth liquor stores that the state has been forced to close temporarily due to COVID-19. In April, the DABC shut down the Moab store and not long after shuttered its Murray location. Both were shuttered for about a week.
The latest closures come on the same day that the DABC will expand hours. Beginning Monday, all state stores will open one hour earlier — from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The DABC has not yet determined when stores that previously had a 10 p.m. closing time would return to those regular hours.
The agency shortened hours at the beginning of the pandemic and continues to limit the number of customers who can be inside the stores.
“Our employees will continue wearing masks and disinfecting checkout counters after transactions,” Wood said. “We ask our customers to please follow the advice of Gov. Gary Herbert and wear masks inside the store for the protection of our employees and other customers.”
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