LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Restaurants are having a tough time right now. Many have closed because customers aren’t coming in and others are dealing with capacity restrictions and reduced hours.

What You Need To Know

  • Restaurants face dilemma of telling customers about COVID-19 cases

  • They are only required to tell health departments

  • Louisville receives up to 140 complaints in a week

  • Customers can report restaurants by calling the health department

 

Stacy Roof with the Kentucky Restaurant Association said some eateries are even dealing with whether or not to disclose to the public if an employee has had COVID-19.

"So if a business chooses to disclose that then are they risking their clients or customers?" Roof said.

Roof said some choose to disclose that as a matter of trust and as a way to maintain a transparent relationship with customers.

Disclosing if an employee at a restaurant has had COVID-19 to the public is not mandated, but guidelines do require that the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMDPHW) is notified for further instructions.

Roof said restaurants are doing their best to be sanitary, but there's still the possibility of contracting the virus from any number of places.

"There are so many touch-points and places and people that we come into contact with. It is really hard to figure out you know where things are generated," Roof said.

That's why the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness defines cases of COVID-19 as clusters or outbreaks. A cluster is two more cases tied to a location or an event, while an outbreak is two cases that are connected.

Environmental Health Manager Nick Hart breaks it down even further.

”A very small restaurant and they are only seating people based on reservations, they have names and they have phone numbers. They know when people were there and we can get that information as a health department" Hart said.

Individuals are then contacted individually, but Hart says, if a business is not using reservations, public disclosure is the only way to let people know they may have been associated with a cluster or an active outbreak.

Roof has some advice to pass along before you enjoy your next meal out on the town, which hopefully involves a face mask, social distancing, and hand washing.

”I just think that communication is key, to ask questions and visit when you are comfortable," Roof said.

If the restaurant is not cooperative, the LMDPHW has tools to help alert the public.

Violations at restaurants can be reported online or by phone at 311 in Louisville. Currently, the LMDPHW has about 15 to 20 complaints a day, resulting in up to 140 complaints a week.

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