Meow Wolf Denver denies outbreak of COVID-19 among employees

Meow Wolf leaders on Thursday disputed a Colorado Department of Health and Environment report that said 15 of the company’s Denver-based employees had contracted COVID-19 in the workplace.

“To clarify, no Meow Wolf employees have reported COVID-19 cases in Denver,” officials said in a statement provided to The Denver Post, credited to Meow Wolf’s Office of the CEOs (Jim Ward, Carl Christensen and Ali Rubinstein). “The current report states that there are 15 active cases, which is inaccurate. There have been 12 previously reported cases, all of which were from contractors on our site. None of these cases are active at the moment.”

On Friday, the company added: “We are working with the DPHE to clear up what we believe are inaccuracies in their reporting of COVID+’s.”

RELATED: Meow Wolf shares new pictures, details of Denver location ahead of late 2021 opening

The Denver Post on Thursday reported that Meow Wolf, an immersive art experience set to open later this year just west of downtown, has had 15 staff members test positive since an outbreak began on Nov. 19. The report used data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which considers an outbreak to be two or more cases linked to the same location or event.

Outbreaks are deemed to be active until four weeks have passed with no new cases.

Also Thursday, company leaders said they learned “that there are (five) new and active COVID-19 cases. None of these are Meow Wolf employees, all are contractors,” they wrote in the statement. “There have been no hospitalizations and everyone is isolating at home.”

Meow Wolf is a Santa Fe-based company with grand expansion plans for the Western United States, all built off the success of its tourist-friendly House of Eternal Return installation in Santa Fe. The art-centric company plans to open its sprawling Denver location later this year, full of its trademark surreal sculptures and environments featuring national and local artists, as well as a location in Las Vegas.

“When it comes to our facility in Denver, we follow and exceed all CDC precautions,” the CEOs wrote. “All bathrooms and public areas are disinfected daily and the site is misted with COVID-19 disinfection solution daily as well. Our standard procedure and protocol for any notice of an outbreak is that we further disinfect and monitor the site.

“All employees and contractors are notified and encouraged to self-monitor when there has been a case and those who have been in close contact with a case are notified and encouraged to test and are required to self-quarantine for fourteen days from their last close contact with the case.”

Denver Public Health and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials had not responded to requests for comment by late Friday.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

Source: Read Full Article