Restaurant server has coronavirus
Man works at Deising’s in Uptown Kingston, ‘doesn’t even feel sick,’ business owner says
KINGSTON, N.Y. » A part-time server at Deising’s Bakery and Restaurant in Uptown Kingston has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, owner Eric Deising and Ulster County officials said Thursday.
Deising said the male server had no symptoms until Sunday, the day before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered that dine-in service be suspended at all restaurants in the state because of the virus outbreak.
A post on the Deising’s Facebook page said the employee complained of “chest discomfort, which was described as feeling like a pulled muscle.”
Deising said the man had no serious symptoms but felt something was off and was tested at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck.
Neither Deising nor county officials provided the man’s name.
Deising’s has two locations — one on North Front Street in Uptown Kingston and a smaller shop on Broadway in Midtown. Deising
said he does not know of the man ever being at the Midtown shop, and the Facebook post said he “did not have contact with our bakery, cake decorating, wholesale or office departments” at the Uptown location.
Deising, who already had closed the Uptown location for cleaning, said that when he learned on Wednesday about the man’s positive for COVID-19, he shut down the Midtown location, too.
Deising said he will completely sterilize both locations, and that other employees will self-quarantine to keep the public safe.
Ulster County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said in a prepared statement Thursday morning that her staff was “aware that an employee of Deising’s Bakery has tested positive for COVID-19. We have been working with Deising’s and the individual as part of our community tracing process.”
That process, she said later Thursday, includes contacting the man’s family, friends and co-workers, and looking for other people with whom he might have had contact.
Asked if the public should be concerned about a potential wide transmission of the virus because the man is a restaurant server, Smith noted that only nine people out of 172 tested in Ulster County so far were found to have the coronavirus.
“We may be learning things about the transmissibility,” the commissioner said, adding that she’s encouraged by the early numbers.
Smith also said food-service workers are well versed in sanitary codes that exist to prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses, and many of those precautions, such as washing hands and disinfecting surfaces, are the same as those for protecting against the virus.
Deising said the man who has the virus is doing well.
“He doesn’t even feel sick at all,” the owner said. “He’s just sitting home.”
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Thursday that anyone who suspects they had contact with the Deising’s employee should call the county’s COVID-19 hotline at (845) 443-8888.
Said Smith: “We’ve had a number of calls from people [who have been] at Deising’s; they see a lot of customers. If they have what we feel is a legitimate contact with that person, then we’ll pursue testing according to protocol.”