CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- GOJO Industries, maker of Purell and other sanitizers, reported Thursday that an employee at its Cuyahoga Falls manufacturing plant is suspected of having COVID-19 coronavirus.

The Akron-based company said it is communicating with other employees who worked on the same production line as the employee in question, who is not a confirmed COVID-19 case. The company did not indicate whether the employee has been tested.

While other companies have voluntarily closed or been mandated to do so, GOJO has been ramping up production of its cleaning products to meet demand from customers, especially first responders and those working in health care.

Read more: GOJO, maker of Purell, hiring at Cuyahoga Falls, Wooster plants due to increased demand because of coronavirus

“We... have always understood that the possibility of one of our own being impacted by this virus was probable,” GOJO spokeswoman Samantha Williams said in a statement. “While we have had proactive safety, cleaning, and social distancing measures in place at GOJO since the beginning of the outbreak, we have implemented several enhanced procedures, further increasing safety, hygiene, security, social distancing and workplace cleaning protocols to keep our team members healthy."

In regard to the practice of social distancing, Williams declined to answer questions from cleveland.com about the number of employees currently working at the Cuyahoga Falls or Wooster plants, as well as how many employees the company hopes to hire in the near future.

When GOJO applied to build the 385,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Cuyahoga Falls in 2007, it indicated there would be about 850 employees, according to the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press.

See also:

Coronavirus could live up to 24 hours on cardboard, 3 days on plastic and steel, study says

Akron-based GOJO Industries falsely marketed Purell as ways to prevent infection, viruses, lawsuit says

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