County Liquor Store Closes, Awaits COVID-19 Employee Testing

GAITHERSBURG, MD — The Goshen Crossing Liquor and Wine store in Gaithersburg has temporarily closed after an employee came down with a fever.

The worker, whose last day at work was Saturday, tested negative for COVID-19, according to Montgomery County's Department of Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS). The department is the alcohol wholesaler of beer, wine, and spirits for the county and manages the Goshen Crossing store located at 20004-2008 Goshen Rd.

"Out of an abundance of caution, local health officials conducted a contact tracing effort and determined additional store employees are to quarantine until their COVID-19 test results return. The resulting staff shortage has caused the store to close today," ABS announced Tuesday.

If any of the COVID-19 tests are positive, employees must quarantine for 10 days and a specialized team will be brought in to disinfect the store before reopening. This deep cleaning involves chemical fogging and wiping down all products and high-contact services, ABS said.

Since its outbreak emerged in March 2020, the county has reported 68,945 COVID-29 cases and 1,455 coronavirus-related deaths.

The jurisdiction — which is home to roughly 1 million people — continues to have the highest number of deaths in the state. It also has the second-highest number of confirmed cases, after Prince George's County.