Cabazon outlet shoppers, employees take precautions as deadly coronavirus fears heighten

As health officials across the Southland continue to monitor potential cases of the deadly coronavirus, shoppers and employees at the outlet malls in Cabazon are taking health precautions, like wearing protective masks.

At the Desert Hills Premium Outlets, some shoppers said they're surprised to see as many protective masks as they did, taking note of the mall's heavy international presence.

"When you see people wearing the face masks, you actually begin to be concerned yourself," said Grant Copland, a shopper visiting from New Zealand. "Maybe I should be taking the precaution."

"I don't know if they're wearing them so that they don't get anything, or if they feel like they may have some sort of illness and they don't want to pass it on," said Carolyn Gilyard.

With no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Riverside County, some said the precautions were premature.

"I don't think they're necessary right now," said Adrian Deleon. "Maybe if they become more common."

For others though, the confirmed cases in Los Angeles and Orange counties are too close for comfort.

"We have people that commute back and forth into those counties so we have people that leave every day that go into Orange county and L.A. County," Gilyard said. "You don't know what they're interacting with or where they're going."

Even employees in some stores were seen wearing masks.

"Talking to some of the people in the store I asked them were they ill or were they afraid of getting ill," Copland said. "They were definitely afraid of getting ill."

We spoke with employees in some of the stores who were wearing masks. They said it's their personal choice to do so, and that no official policy has been issued by the outlet mall management.

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