Another Wichita restaurant announces it’s closing voluntarily amid coronavirus concerns
Another Wichita restaurant is voluntarily closing amid coronavirus concerns.
On Friday, Stroud’s Restaurant & Bar at 3661 N Hillside, posted on Facebook that it was temporarily closed “due to the possibility that one of our employees was in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
“While none of our staff are symptomatic, in an abundance of caution, our entire staff are being tested,” the post read. “We will reopen as timely as possible and appropriate and will let you know as soon as we are able to do so.”
Stroud’s is the third Wichita restaurant this week to announce a voluntary closure amid concerns that staff members were exposed to or tested positive for coronavirus.
Jose Pepper’s Mexican Restaurant at 2243 N. Tyler Road closed late last week after a back-of-the-house employee tested positive. The regional manager said that all employees who came in contact with the infected employee were tested and that all those tests came back negative. The restaurant reopened on Tuesday.
Paleterias Tropicana at 2021 N. Amidon also announced on Monday that it was temporarily closing after an employee tested positive for the virus. It remains closed.
Restaurants and other retail businesses in Sedgwick County are not required to close if an employee tests positive for coronavirus, said county manager Tom Stolz, though the Sedgwick County Health Department will do “track trace” to find out if that employee came into contact with the public. It also will ask that other employees who may have come in contact with the infected employee be tested.
If the health department determines there’s a “cluster” at a business, it will be announced to the public, he said.
Dr. Garold Minns, Sedgwick County’s chief public health officer, would have the authority to close a restaurant or retail business if he deemed it necessary to protect public health.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 1:35 PM.
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