Pub open as staff isolate
Lord Palmerston staff self-isolate
A BUSY Wetherspoons pub has confirmed that a member of its staff has tested positive for Covid-19 – but the pub remains open.
The worker from The Lord Palmerston, in Palmerston Road, Southsea tested positive this week, resulting in a number of staff having to self-isolate.
The employee notified the company of having tested positive on Monday, despite not showing symptoms.
JD Wetherspoon has notified Public Health England of the positive test result but said it has ‘not been the advice of the health authorities to close the premises’ under such circumstances.
Staff at the Wetherspoons-owned Sir Alec Rose, Port Solent, have been left covering shifts at the depleted Lord Palmerston.
But an employee, who asked not to be named, has slammed the conduct of senior management of the company – saying the Covid19 sufferer would have ‘come into contact with a lot of people’.
They said: ‘We were informed someone had tested positive for Covid-19 and they were taking steps to cover the shifts of those self-isolating.
Staff who may have come into close contact have been asked to self-isolate.
Wetherspoons spokesman
‘We don’t know how many customers the member of staff has served but the chances are they came into contact with a lot of people.’
They added: ‘It is only right the public know about this.’
JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin last month criticised a scientist who said the virus could be spread in pubs.
Mr Martin said ‘there appears not to have been, up until now, a case of transmission from person to person among staff or from staff to customers or vice versa’.
He said there had been isolated cases but no outbreak in some of his 870 pubs.
Asked about the Lord Palmerston, a spokesman for Wetherspoons told The News: ‘An employee notified us of having tested positive for Covid-19 despite not showing symptoms.
‘As a precaution, in accordance with public health guidelines, a number of staff who may have come into close contact with the affected employee have been asked to self-isolate for 14 days.’
The spokesman also said Wetherspoons had issued ‘comprehensive social distancing and hygiene practices in all its pubs’.
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