Two Seacoast Cumberland Farms Locations Close Due To COVID-19

Editor's note: This article was written by a Townsquare Media Northern New England radio personality and may contain the individual's views, opinions or personal experiences.

Due to Cumberland Farms team members having positive COVID-19 tests, both the Epping and Somersworth locations are temporarily closed and undergoing the proper health protocols and cleaning.

The 99 Calef Highway location in Epping has issued the following statement:

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We are taking all appropriate steps following guidance from local health officials. We closed the store at 10:30 AM (EST) on Monday January 18th to be cleaned and sanitized by an industrial cleaning crew. The store will re-open in the next few days. We are grateful to all our customers for your patience and understanding during this time.

The timing and phrasing is remarkably similar at the 258 High Street location in Somersworth, the only difference being that that closing occurred later Monday evening around 7:30 p.m.

I live about one block away from the Columbus Avenue location in Rochester and I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to close this store at any time, let alone during the busier time of mid morning and evening.

That Cumberland Farms is constantly busy with people going in and out and pumping gas at every nozzle 24 hours a day. I drive by at 4:50 a.m. every morning and it's almost indistinguishable from 4:50 p.m., based on traffic alone.

One cannot begin to imagine the short-term financial hit that these closures will cost the company.

I, for one, am very grateful to them for creating an environment where the employees feel secure to tell their supervisors of their diagnosis and the store's insistence on performing a multi-day deep clean shutdown because of it.

And, by the way, their pizza is super underrated.

This wouldn't be an A-Train article without that final tidbit.