The general manager of Countdown says despite mistakenly opening for three minutes after a COVID-19 positive man shopped in the store, there was no risk to any customers - including Patrick Gower.
On Tuesday evening the contagious man fled a managed isolation facility and remained missing for 70 minutes. During this time he entered Countdown Victoria St and wandered the aisles. He tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning.
Later that same morning, Gower visited the same supermarket. In an initial statement. Countdown said it had closed its store at 8:15am. However a receipt from Gower showed he had shopped at 10:42am.
"The supermarket said it was closed at about 8:15am yesterday morning - that is wrong," he told The AM Show on Thursday.
In a statement to Newshub, Countdown's general manager Kiri Hannifin said the supermarket was opened accidentally for three minutes between 10:29am and 10:32am, following a deep clean by staff.
"There was no risk to Patrick Gower or the 10 other customers who entered the store at that time," she said.
Although the store was shut at 10:32, Hannifin says staff allowed the customers already in the store to complete their shop which is why Gower's receipt shows a time of 10:42am.
She says the store was not told to close or clean following the incident but did so for their own peace of mind and the peace of mind of their customers.
"We actually decided to close the store for the entire day to support our team."
After discovering he had shopped at the same store as the COVID-19 positive man, Gower entered isolation and was tested for the virus. He received a negative result on Thursday morning.
