Hundreds of McDonald’s employees in Melbourne are on unpaid leave for 14-days because they may have come into contact with a delivery driver who tested positive to Covid-19.
The fast food chain closed 12 of its restaurants in the city’s outer suburbs on Monday after it was told that a driver, who worked for an external company, made deliveries to those restaurants before he tested positive to the virus.
He is the 12th person to test positive to Covid-19 in a cluster that began at a McDonald’s store in Fawkner, about 20km north of the CBD.
It comes Melbourne abattoir Cedar Meats, the centre of an outbreak that was linked to 99 cases, reopened for business.
About a thousand employees, most of whom are casuals, were affected by the restaurant closures. Several hundred people who were on shift either when the driver made their delivery or immediately after have been told to self-isolate and not return to work for 14-days. None of them have, to date, tested positive to the virus.
McDonald’s employees are covered by the Fast Food Industry Award. Part-time employees may be able to access sick leave, but most are casuals and will just have access to two weeks unpaid pandemic leave. They have been told they will not be able to return to work unless they have tested negative to Covid-19.
The restaurants will be reopened in the next few days after they have been deep cleaned, provided replacement workers are available.
The McDonald’s outbreak began at the Fawkner branch on 8 May. Within five days three cases had been confirmed and the restaurant was closed for a deep-cleaning, with 92 employees tested and all close contacts of the confirmed cases told to self-isolate for 14-days.
One week after the outbreak was first reported, the cluster had grown to 10. On Saturday an 11th case was reported, this time in an employee at the McDonald’s in Craigieburn who was a relative of one of the employees of McDonald’s Fawkner.
The delivery driver was identified as a close contact of the Craigieburn case.
Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen, said McDonald’s searched CCTV footage to identify 12 restaurants which the delivery driver had visited while potentially asymptomatic for the disease.
They are: Melton East; Laverton North; Yallambie; Taylors Lakes; Campbellfield; Sunbury; Hoppers Crossing; Riverdale Village; Sandown; Calder Highway northbound; Calder Highway southbound; and the BP Rockbank Service Centre outbound.
“We have worked very closely with McDonald’s and they have taken all steps required by us — and then some — and they have done a very extensive investigation very quickly on a Sunday evening,” van Diemen said.
She added: “nobody will return to work at McDonald’s until they have had a negative test.”
The Craigieburn and Fawkner outlets have already been cleaned and re-opened, but the staff from those stores remain under 14-day quarantine. The restaurants are currently staffed by employees from other stores.
A spokesman from McDonald’s Australia said the 12 stores were closed out of “an abundance of caution” and that “no other employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at this time”.
“The truck driver made deliveries to 12 restaurants and interacted with a small number of restaurant employees on each occasion while asymptomatic and unaware they had contracted COVID-19,” they said.
“Potential close contacts and employees who have worked specific shifts during and after the truck drivers’ delivery have been instructed not to return to work for 14 days and advised to be tested.”