(Updated) Two employees of the Amity post office at 1449 Whalley Ave. have tested positive for Covid-19, leading to a decision to close the branch temporarily.
At this point the U.S. Postal Services has too few employees available to staff the branch.
Customers have been redirected to the branch at Fountain and Harrison.
“I can confirm 2 positive tests since November,” USPS spokesperson Amy Gibbs stated in an email message to the Independent Tuesday night.
Earlier statements and stories did not include that information. Here is the official statement the USPS released earlier Tuesday:
“In the case of the Amity postal facility in New Haven, we are flexing our resources to restore service as quickly as possible as our employee availability has been reduced due to the impacts of COVID-19. We are monitoring conditions daily. Our occupational health professionals are working with the local public health officials. We will follow the guidance they provide and keep our employees apprised as new information and guidance becomes available to us.
“As you may know, under the Rehabilitation Act and the Privacy Act, specific employee medical information must be kept confidential and may only be shared in very limited circumstances. The Postal Service cannot share the names of any who tested positive for COVID-19 or further specifics of his or her medical condition. But please note that employee availability is also impacted by our updated leave policies that allow liberal use of leave. This gives our employees the ability to stay home whenever they feel sick, must provide dependent care, or any other qualifying factor under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. We have entered into agreements with our unions to provide 80 hours of paid leave to non-career employees for issues related to COVID-19, and have expanded the definition of sick leave for dependent care for covered employees to deal with the closures of primary and secondary schools across the country.”