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Community Tap and Pizza employees test positive for COVID-19

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Community Tap and Pizza’s parking lot sits empty after the restaurant temporarily closed Monday morning.

Community Tap and Pizza closed Monday morning after two of its employees tested positive for COVID-19, according to owner Sally Hart.

All of the restaurant’s 30 employees are in the process of being tested through Webster County Public Health, she said. A reopening date has not been determined, but will be determined by how many more test positive and how many employees are willing to come back to work.

The wait staff employees who tested positive last worked on Thursday, Hart said. They were tested after coming into contact with another COVID-19 patient, but displayed no symptoms.

Infectious disease experts widely estimate that about 20% of those infected will not exhibit symptoms, but can continue to spread the virus undetected.

The restaurant owner said she started informing staff and customers of the situation when she learned of it on Friday, but decided to close on Monday to avoid the risk of endangering anyone else’s health.

Though public health laws do not require restaurants to close their dining rooms or notify customers when an employee tests positive for the virus, Hart said the restaurant didn’t want to take the risk. Community Tap had been taking employees’ temperatures daily before shifts and requiring them to wear gloves, the owner said.

But, as she learned, the virus can go unchecked even with thermometers in use.

Restaurants can choose to close on their own for a short period to clean, or can continue with service as they choose, said Kelli Bloomquist, public information officer for Webster County Public Health.

She said their department has seen some choose to close, while others have chosen to serve customers through their drive-thrus.

“As long as the restaurant is heeding the precautions set forth by the Iowa Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, eating out is safe, as it has been since April,” she said. “If you have recently been in a place of business that is closed for cleaning, this does not mean that you are necessarily a first-hand exposure to COVID-19.”

Bloomquist said that those with known contact to COVID-19 patients will be contacted by public health.

Hart said that “common sense” requires restaurants and the general public to exercise constraint and be responsible, even when restaurants are allowed to remain open.

“We could do pick-up (orders), but I don’t think it’s safe,” she said, noting that she consulted owners of other Fort Dodge restaurants who have gone through similar situations, including Jerry Jordison at Ja-Mar Drive In.

Ja-Mar closed in May after three employees tested positive. Brent “Ben” Newton, husband of the first positive employee, Jackie Newton, was Webster County’s first COVID-19 victim.

Community Tap and Pizza will undergo a deep cleaning while it remains closed.

“It’s been my worst nightmare since March 17,” Hart said tearfully. “It’s just been a hard time. The big thing is people. We want everyone to be healthy.”

Community Tap is the third restaurant on record to have employees test positive for COVID-19, after Applebee’s Grill and Bar and Ja-Mar.

“We continue to remind Webster County residents that COVID-19 has not disappeared and we will be in the pandemic phase for some time,” Bloomquist said. “COVID-19 is still in community spread and it should be assumed that if you are out in public settings, there is the possibility of exposure.”

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