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At Honest John's, a potentially Covid-exposed server said he returned before a full quarantine. (Photo: Facebook)
Michigan restaurants remain closed for indoor dining, but prospective patrons should beware of what one article calls the "inexact science" of tracing Covid's spread within them.
The story, reported by Outlier Media in partnership with the Free Press, finds Detroit restaurants with positive cases may not be reporting them to local health departments, as required under state worker safety regulations. Contact tracing appears lacking at those that do, and potentially Covid-positive employees are continuing to work despite a requirement that they quarantine.
In an effort to prevent spread, the safety protocols work like this: Restaurants with a positive case in an employee must notify the local health department and any staff who may have come in contact with them. From there, the health department is supposed to follow up with contact tracing.
Michigan restaurants with positive cases or employees showing symptoms are to close and undergo a deep cleaning. Staff who may have been exposed are to quarantine for 10 days, consistent with CDC guidelines.
Those steps weren't followed in at least two instances in Detroit, Outlier reports. In September, after a positive case at Honest John's in Midtown, a potentially exposed employee was permitted to return to work after quarantining for only a week and while awaiting a Covid-test result. At the time, the CDC recommended two weeks of quarantine following potential exposure.
“I told my general manager that I shouldn’t be working, I didn’t have my test results yet, and he was like, ‘No it’s fine, you always wear a mask, I’ll make sure everyone’s wearing a mask,’” he said.
The test came back negative. Honest John's didn't notify staff of the positive case, but told Outlier that was because the infected employee hadn't been at work for a week by the time they tested positive.
Meanwhile, one anonymous Detroit restaurant owner who reported a Covid case among staff to the local health department this fall said they found the response to be lacking.
... they were not asked for documentation or the name of the employee who tested positive for COVID-19.
“As a business owner, my only connection to the health department is my inspector,” the owner said. “He said they have a different department for contact tracing and probably somebody would be contacting me, and that’s something that never happened.
“... they never asked for a certified COVID cleaning or anything.”
The restaurant owner said contact tracing shouldn’t be the responsibility of restaurants and businesses.
“Yes, we can track everybody’s names who comes in, but then what is someone who is not us doing with that data?” they said. “(Local officials) are not even taking the name of an employee who was positive and she didn’t have anybody ask her where she works or list the 15 people (she) saw in seven days.”
State health department data show 4 percent of outbreaks are tied to restaurants, but the finding comes with the caveat that many can slip through the cracks.
On its website, MDHHS says, "Many factors, including the lack of ability to conduct effective contact tracing in certain settings, may result in significant underreporting of outbreaks … and the absence of identified outbreaks in a particular setting in no way provides evidence that, in fact, that setting is not having outbreaks.”
Local health departments either don't keep track of or don't share the names of restaurants with a confirmed positive case. Wayne County falls in the latter category, saying it only tracks outbreaks — two or more cases at the same restaurant. The Detroit Health Department, meanwhile, told Outlier that about 15 restaurants had positive cases in November, but would not share their names.
