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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Harvard Book Store workers stand outside the open shop in mid-September. (Photo: Harvard Book Store via Facebook)

At a time the Harvard Book Store has already reported struggling with sales down significantly compared with any period before the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday brought another blow: A closing as of 1:15 p.m. to sanitize the space at 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19. The test was administered Tuesday.

Update on Nov. 14, 2020: The store reopened Saturday with limited capacity in-store shopping, contactless curbside pickup, and mailout services for online orders, managers said.

“They last worked in the store space on Sunday and were not experiencing symptoms,” managers said on social media. “As of today they are feeling mostly well, and we are hopeful for a speedy recovery.”

Managers said they didn’t believe there had been any close contact among the staff per federal health guidelines “given the safety protocols, social distancing procedures and symptom monitoring we have implemented, [but] wanted to take these steps to ensure continued health and safety for all,” they said. The temporary closing will also give time for staff who worked in the store over the weekend to get tested and monitor themselves for coronavirus symptoms.

A reopening of curbside pickup and in-store shopping would be announced soon, managers said, though staff will continue processing incoming orders coming through harvard.com remotely.

This post was written from a press release.