South Coast Plaza closing for 2 weeks; store employee tests positive for COVID-19

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- South Coast Plaza is closing for two weeks. A spokesperson says a store employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus, but says "this is not the reason for the Center's closure."

"South Coast Plaza has elected to temporarily close given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our understanding that closures of public gathering places in Orange County are important for a chance to meaningfully stem this pandemic is the reason we took this action. Joining hands with our retail leaders, South Coast Plaza will close this evening at 7 pm and remain closed for 14 days. We plan to reopen on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. In addition, we learned that an employee in one of our stores at the Center received news of testing positive for COVID-19. The store has since closed. Although this is not the reason for the Center's closure, it reinforced the need for us to take action," spokeswoman Debra Gunn Downing said in a statement.

DEVELOPING: We will update this story as we get more details.