A downtown Auburn restaurant has reopened after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19 last week, but its hours are limited because many other employees are now under quarantine.
Mesa Grande Taqueria on Genesee Street announced the positive test Saturday morning on its Facebook page. The restaurant learned of it the night prior, manager Christopher Adessa told 水果派AV. The employee last worked at the restaurant from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, but didn't handle any food or come into contact with any customers.
The employee got tested for COVID-19 because they're a student, said Adessa, who declined to provide any further information so as not to reveal the employee's identity. The employee, who works at Mesa Grande as a dishwasher, was asymptomatic. Additionally, while they tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, they tested negative on Wednesday, Adessa said.
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Still, in the interest of safety, the manager decided to close the restaurant for the weekend while he communicated with the Cayuga County Health Department. Seven employees who came into contact with the one who tested positive entered quarantine, Adessa said, and feel fine. But without them, he has to limit the restaurant's hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, when it reopened, through Friday. The restaurant will be closed again next weekend. Adessa hopes it will return to normal hours Monday, Oct. 5, as his employees will finish their quarantine on Sunday.
Adessa added that the restaurant will use the Paycheck Protection Program loan it received to pay the seven employees during their quarantine.
The Cayuga County Health Department is asking customers to monitor their health after a worker at a downtown Auburn restaurant tested positive…
"We felt like it was the right thing to do," he said. "It's not their fault they can't earn a living for a week or two."
Mesa Grande is no stranger to being short-staffed, Adessa said. He has been encouraging employees to stay home if they feel the slightest bit under the weather. The restaurant also follows strict sanitation policy, he continued, and errs on the side of caution by not allowing indoor dining even though it can聽fill up to 50% of its capacity. Instead, customers can eat on the sidewalk along Genesee Street, inside nearby Genesee Mall or on the Exchange Street Plaza. As winter approaches, though, he's considering more tables inside the mall.
"It doesn't seem like this is going away," he said.
It's been six months since the COVID-19 pandemic reached New York, and three months since the state's restaurants were allowed to reopen as th…
Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter .
David Wilcox
Executive editor
