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 confirmed 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 officer 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 See RESTAURANTS, Page 6

TIM ATEN/USA TODAY NETWORK New York Pizza & Pasta in Naples had employees contract the coronavirus. Florida does not require businesses to tell customers of such illnesses.