Florida eateries under no obligation to report cases
NAPLES, Fla. – The reports started to spread earlier this week through Esplanade Golf & Country Club.
The daughter of a nearby resident had tested positive for COVID-19. She worked at a local restaurant, New York Pizza & Pasta, and she wasn’t the only employee to fall ill.
The restaurant closed June 6, shortly after Steve DiOrio and his wife had ordered takeout from it for the second straight day. DiOrio said he called the restaurant but was automatically forwarded to another location.
“They explained that they were answering the phones because there was a gas problem at the other store,” he said.
“That didn’t sit right with me, so I drove there to see for myself.”
DiOrio found sanitation crews onsite and a piece of paper taped to the door reading, “Please be advised that this location will be closed for the next 48 hours.”
As he continued his investigation, reports surfaced of more Naples restaurant workers testing positive. The local Tommy Bahama Restaurant closed June 6 after an employee tested positive. A host at Osteria Tulia had also tested positive, chef-owner Vincenzo Betulia confirmed Wednesday night.
“People should be able to know,” DiOrio said. “If they’ve potentially been exposed, they should at least have the right to know about it.”
The fact is, they don’t. Neither the Florida Department of
Health nor the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation are tracking coronavirus illnesses tied to restaurants. While the health department tracks food-related restaurant outbreaks, such as hepatitis A and norovirus, the novel coronavirus does not qualify.
“With hepatitis, the reason it’s tracked the way it is is the fecal-to-oral means through which it is transmitted,” said Kristine Hollingsworth, public information officer for the Florida Department of Health in Collier County.
That means a restaurant worker with hepatitis A, who uses the restroom, doesn’t properly wash their hands and then prepares food for customers, is likely to infect those customers. The
coronavirus, however, has not been shown to be transmitted through food.
Florida isn’t alone in not requiring restaurants, or other businesses, to inform customers if an employee has been infected with the coronavirus. In Arizona and Alabama, the states’ departments of health do not require restaurants to tell the public or close their doors if an employee tested positive.
While the CDC urges restaurants to notify customers, it directs businesses to check with state and local regulations. Federally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance permits employers to report employees who test positive for COVID-19 to public health officials, but the employee’s identity must remain confidential.
Hollingsworth and other health experts say COVID-19 transmission is unlikely through the limited interactions of a server and a diner. Due to the long period between when the coronavirus is contracted and when symptoms present, which can be up to 14 days, tying a transmission to any specific place would be nearly impossible.
“COVID is community-spread and that’s why we have measures in place such as social distancing, wearing a mask in public, not congregating in large groups,” Hollingsworth said.
To track COVID-19 transmissions, the state’s health departments rely on contact tracing. After an individual tests positive, officials do a thorough rundown of every person with whom the individual interacted going back to their onset of symptoms and 48 hours prior. Officials compile the names into lists, some of which have been 30 people deep according to Hollingsworth. They then find those contacts and alert them of their exposure.
Most customers of sickened restaurant employees would not qualify as contacts.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has offered limited guidance as to what restaurants should do when an employee tests positive for COVID-19. Of the eight mandatory measures in place for restaurants as of May 18, only one addresses sick employees.
“Employees who appear to have symptoms upon arrival at work or who become sick during the day must immediately be separated from other employees, customers, and visitors, and sent home.”
No further details are given.
An order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March prohibits several categories of employees from entering restaurants, including those presenting with symptoms and those who’ve passed through airports or cruise ships in the past 14 days. The order also prohibits:
• Any person who has been infected by COVID-19 and has not had two consecutive negative results separated by at least 24 hours.
• Any person who has been in contact with persons known to be infected with COVID-19, who has not yet tested negative in the past 14 days.
When New York Pizza & Pasta reopened Tuesday, it did so after coowner John Maffei spent $25,000 on rapid testing for the nearly 50 employees.
Following DiOrio’s investigative work, he eventually heard back from New York Pizza & Pasta’s management. They declined to give him many details at the time, but confirmed a potential COVID-19 exposure.
DiOrio appreciates the difficult situations restaurants are facing. He said he doesn’t blame restaurant workers for contracting the virus, but he hopes for more honesty and transparency.
He pointed to efforts from the Publix grocery store chain, which has been forthcoming about employees who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 at its various stores in a series of interviews with The News-Press and Daily News.
“Just own it and do the right thing,” DiOrio said.
“These are trying times, we know that, but be honest. Just tell us, be above the line. We’re your customers. We deserve at least that.”