Well, dang y’all. Despite a lot of caution, we just had our first COVID case at Firestorm. On Monday afternoon, a member of our collective tested positive after beginning to feel feverish. We closed the store early so our entire team could get tested. Keep reading for how this will impact our operations going forward...

As of now, it seems like only one of us has COVID, which is a win for masking and vaccination. Our teammate who is sick has a mild—but still very unpleasant—breakthrough case and is isolating according to public health guidelines. They were at Firestorm on Saturday and Sunday, before developing symptoms but during a period of potential transmissibility, so we’re taking the situation very seriously.

We will be closed through Thursday and have suspended in-person browsing at our store until the remainder of our staff has received a second negative lab test. Contactless pickup will be available starting Friday. With luck, we will be back to normal operations next week. 🤞

Having to close over a busy weekend is a hardship for our co-operative, but not one that can be weighed against the health and safety of our members or community. We've seen businesses pressure workers to return prematurely after similar incidents, so we're grateful that as a democratic workplace we have the freedom to set our own priorities. If you’d like to support us, please grab a couple books from our web store—we’re still shipping in-stock titles anywhere in the U.S. for just one dollar!