WASHINGTON — An outbreak of coronavirus infections at an upscale Whole Foods in the heart of the nation’s capital has focused attention on the plight of grocery store workers deemed essential to stay on the job during the pandemic but increasingly falling ill to its ravages.

The Whole Foods near Washington’s trendy Logan Circle told employees on Wednesday that a worker had contracted the virus, one of at least six, but that the store would not close, according to a report by WUSA, a local CBS-affiliated station. Instead, managers would order a deep cleaning with workers staying on the job, according to an email sent to employees that was obtained by the station.

Workers were free to take leave without penalty through the end of April, the email said, but it would be unpaid.

An employee at the store, who declined to be identified, passed a note to a New York Times photographer there on Tuesday stating that 16 employees at the location were confirmed to be infected, a significant outbreak in a city that has so far escaped the horrors of New York, Detroit and New Orleans.