In late March, as cities across Texas began to announce cases of COVID-19, San Antonio-based grocery retailer H-E-B announced a $2 per hour pay increase for all of its hourly employees.

The temporary program ended June 21, and on June 22, H-E-B announced in a press release it would transition in “different, long-term, permanent investments in our people” including pay raises for hourly employees.

“This pay increase will be the largest pay increase in the history of H-E-B,” the media release said.

H-E-B has 340 stores in Texas and Mexico, and according to the release, employs more than 120,000 hourly workers.

The grocer said in the release it believes the COVID-19 crisis “will be around for an indeterminate amount of time” and wanted to reward its employees with more than just an extension of temporary bonuses.

Texas has reported more than 3,000 new cases each day since June 16. On June 22, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press conference the virus “is spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled.”