Inman Park restaurant BeetleCat is the latest metro Atlanta restaurant to voluntarily temporarily close after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
The eatery, part of the Ford Fry-owned Rocket Farms Restaurants restaurant group, closed over the weekend with plans to reopen Friday, June 12.
BeetleCat is the second Rocket Farms restaurant to close due to coronavirus. Little Rey in Piedmont Heights temporarily closed for take-out service at the end of March after an employee tested positive.
Several other local restaurants temporarily closed in the past few weeks due to positive employee coronavirus tests including the Chamblee location of Gusto, Hattie B's in Little Five Points, Forza Storico and Ray's on the River.
Forza Storico co-owner Pietro Gianni said that although the restaurant was not required to close because an employee tested positive, “We decided to because we consider our employees like family.”
Between late March and early April, some chain restaurants also temporarily closed because of COVID-19 cases among staff, including a Waffle House in Canton, a Chick-fil-A in McDonough and one in Marietta.
State-issued executive orders do not require restaurant operators to close when an employee tests positive for COVID-19. The orders do instruct restaurant workers with known or suspected COVID-19 to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to self-isolate 10 days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms and end isolation only after symptoms have improved and the employee has been fever-free and/or symptom-free for three consecutive days without medication.
According to a Rocket Farms representative, all BeetleCat staff is following CDC-recommended guidelines for quarantining and being symptom-free for a minimum 3 days prior to returning to work.
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