By the end of each day, shelves at the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center show bare spots that will need attention before the store opens again.
An employee of the Missoula Food Bank & Community Center tested positive for COVID-19 and the food bank will temporarily reduce its hours, according to a news release from Executive Director Aaron Brock.
“Our front-line team has taken every precaution, but we have known that this was a possibility since we started seeing community spread in Missoula County,” Brock said in the release.
The release stated that all of the staff working in the store with the employee who tested positive will quarantine, and a small staff of four people, who were not in contact with the employee, will step up to continue reduced operations. The staff member who tested positive was last in the food bank on Sept. 29.
From Oct. 5 through 13 the food bank will operate on the reduced hours of Monday through Tuesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Wednesday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be closed on Fridays. There will also be safety measures in place.
“Safety measures include a plexi-glass barrier between customers and staff at the welcome desk, a streamlined, pre-loaded cart system to expedite customer interaction, masking, physical distancing, and sanitizing procedures,” the news release stated.
There will still be prepared meals for kids, though they won’t be distributing through the EmPower Place entrance or from the Kids Eat Free Bus until operations are back to normal.
