The Lynchburg Health Department and those hospitals in that area are overwhelmed with calls and visits Thursday after J. Crew’s corporate office told its employees someone on staff tested positive for the coronavirus.
What led J. Crew to informing its employees that someone had tested positive for the coronavirus was lots of miscommunication, according to the Lynchburg Health Department.
The department’s director, Kerry Gateley, said that the person who was experiencing flu-like symptoms was not tested for COVID-19, but rather, was tested for something else.
That wasn’t communicated to the individual, who believed he or she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
That person then alerted his or her employee, J. Crew, which is what led to the company alerting it’s employees about the case.
Gateley said that on Wednesday night, health department officials spoke with those in J. Crew’s corporate office in New York City and learned there was a mistake.
"Now that we’ve had our communication with them, and they know who they better call. That’s all I’m going to do from my standpoint. What they do internally, how they explain this to their own employees I’m leaving it up to them, but from a public health standpoint there is no risk right now at that facility,” explained Gateley.
To keep this from happening to another business Gateley said, “In all of these situations the best way to respond for businesses, for everyone, the best way to respond if you think you have a situation like that at J. Crew is to contact us. We can first of all confirm what’s going on and second of all we have the latest advice.”
10 News has reached out to J. Crew multiple times and has not received a response.