The Costco corporate office stayed open even after the death of a worker with coronavirus. Now 2 more Costco corporate employees have tested positive.

REUTERS/Mohammad Khursheed

• Two more Costco employees at the company's Issaquah, Washington offices have tested positive for COVID-19.
• In a Thursday email from a Costco executive, which was viewed by Business Insider, corporate employees were informed about two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the company's campus.
• The news comes shortly after a Costco Travel employee on the Issaquah campus died Sunday after testing positive for the virus.
• The offices on the campus are still open, though the vast majority of employees are working from home.
• Costco did not return Business Insider's request for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As more people on Costco's corporate campus at Issaquah, Washington become infected with the coronavirus, the company has not yet made the decision to fully close down its offices there.

The campus remained open after a Costco Travel employee died on Sunday after testing positive for the coronavirus. Now, two more employees at the Issaquah offices have tested positive for the virus, the company learned on Thursday.

In a Thursday email from a Costco executive, which was viewed by Business Insider, corporate employees were informed about two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the company's campus.

One case was another Costco Travel employee who was last in the office on Friday, March 13. The other was a Costco IT employee who was last in the office Thursday, March 12.

"Employees in these areas have been notified, and we are continuing our enhanced cleaning procedures," read the email. "We've notified public health authorities and are continuing to follow current health guidelines."

Despite the growing tally of infected employees on the campus, the Costco corporate offices have remained open, though more and more people are transferring to a work-from-home situation.

"The vast majority of our staff continues to work remotely, and we certainly encourage you to do so if you desire," read another Thursday email to employees from Peter Gruening, a Costco Travel executive. "For those remaining in the office, we have reinforced social distancing both in work areas and common areas. The safety and welfare of our teams remains our highest priority."

The email also informed employees that in addition to extra sanitizing efforts in the area, another deep cleaning had been scheduled.

Corporate employees are frustrated and scared

Despite these extra cleaning measures, employees who work on the Issaquah campus describe an approach that seems to be reactive as opposed to proactive.

"Everyone's really anxious," said a Costco Travel employee, who worked close to the employee who died, told Business Insider. This employee said that the company is gradually transitioning to a work from home situation, but the offices are still open.

"It didn't need to get to this," the employee said, describing a tense scene of hushed conversations in the office hallways followed by a mad dash to get out of the building after the announcement of the first employee's death on Monday.

The employee said: "We were literally in full panic mode until they gave us the laptops [to work from home]."

This employee is one of three Costco employees who work at the company's Issaquah campus who spoke to Business Insider about the conditions on the campus over the last few days. These employees, whose identities have been confirmed by Business Insider, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from management.

Another Costco Travel employee told Business Insider that the transition to work from home has been slow and mishandled. This employee said that after the first case of the coronavirus was discovered, people were granted laptops to work from home on a priority basis, depending on their job.

"They had the ability to have people work from home for a while," this employee said, expressing frustration and anger at how slowly the situation was being handled. "It makes us feel like we're really, like nothing."

Costco did not return Business Insider's request for comment.

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