Citing “honesty is the best policy,” operators of John’s Grocery in Bovina announced the store would temporarily close after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

The announcement came Wednesday afternoon on the store’s Facebook page.

“… The safety of our family and customers is so much more important than selling food,” the Facebook post read. “So we found out that the store may have been exposed to COVID-19 and for the safety of everyone we will be closed this week and maybe event next.”

The original post was edited later in the day to confirm that an employee did test positive.

“In the meantime, we are going to be having everything sanitized above and beyond the level that we do daily anyway,” the store said. “Please bear with us and try to understand. We love you all and are super grateful to every one of you. We are gonna miss y’all this week and maybe next. Best wishes and good health to everyone!”

The announcement came the same day state health officials announced 18 new positive cases in Warren County since Monday. Health officials also announced two additional virus-related deaths in Warren County, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 14.

Overall, Warren County has reported 280 cases since the first case in the county was reported on March 29.