By Shavonne Potts
shavonne.potts@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Custom Glass Products is in a rebuilding phase after 30-plus employees tested positive for COVID-19, says President and CEO Steve Reeder.

Reeder said the first employee tested positive on May 1 and others soon began to test positive, forcing the company, located at 824 Corporate Circle, to shut down for an extended period of time. Most of the 120 employees have now been tested, he said, and the company has opened back in a limited way, Reeder said.

He said the company is waiting for some of those who are quarantined to return to work.

“Some of them have been released and are back. We are able to run most of our facility, ” he said. “We’ve had to tweak a little on our shifts. We are on kind of a swing shift instead of two shifts so we can have better coverage on some of the equipment.”

Spokesman TJ Brown said the company has worked closely with the Rowan County Health Department through the event.

“They have followed the guidance we have provided and been very responsive,” Brown said.

Reeder said the company had in place recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since March, including social distancing. They have now enhanced some recommendations, including spreading out different work areas. The company, he said, is also encouraging employees to also practice social distancing outside of work.

The company has required everyone to wear face masks and, Reeder said, the company has already been disinfecting work areas twice per shift.

Novant Health Rowan Medical Center has provided an infection nurse who screens employees at the beginning of the shift. That was part of a program that was recently made available to the company, and it allows Custom Glass Products to keep a database of employees and their COVID-19 symptoms.

“We’re survivors, we’re pulling through,” Reeder said.

He said the company is three weeks into the situation and is now “pulling out the other side and restarting everything up.”