3 SAQ outlets close after 8 employees test positive for coronavirus

Three SAQs north of Montreal are closed after eight of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.

SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec) made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, citing “preventative measures” as the reason all three branches will be closed. There’s no timetable for their reopening, as all three will be shut down “until further notice.”

Each employee who has worked in the infected locations throughout the past week must self-isolate for 14 days and pass a COVID-19 test “as soon as possible.”

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The SAQ says public health authorities have not identified any customers who need to quarantine but the provincial liquor board encourages anybody who visited one of these three branches recently to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms.

The three affected branches are as follows:

SAQ Sélection, 259, boulevard de la Seigneurie Ouest, Blainville, J7C 4N3
SAQ Dépôt, 1395, Boul. Michèle-Bohec, Blainville, J7C 0M4
SAQ Classique, 13370, boulevard Curé-Labelle, Mirabel, J7J 1G9

The SAQ says its earliest possible case would have occurred on July 17 (in Blainville) and its most recent would be on July 24 (in Mirabel).

All three closed outlets will be “thoroughly cleaned by a specialized team” and 17 of the 21 employees have been cleared by public health to resume normal activities.

“The safety of our employees and our customers is paramount and all the necessary measures are put in place to ensure this since the start of the pandemic,” says Jacques Farcy, Vice-President of SAQ Sales Operations, in French. “This is why we are making the decision to close these branches and to communicate these exceptional measures in full transparency to our employees, our customers, and the public.”

None of the SAQ’s other outlets throughout the Montreal metropolitan area will be affected by its sister location’s closures, says the SAQ.