An Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19, Now What?

employee tests positive for COVID restaurant

COVID-19 has reshaped much of the restaurant industry we know and love. A meal with friends is now a public health risk instead of a casual good time. With this increasing concern for safety and fear of contamination, the question for most restaurant operators becomes: if an employee tests positive for COVID-19, should I close my restaurant? The short answer is no. 

This may come as a surprise, but according to the CDC’s new guidelines, restaurants and other businesses in “most cases” do not need to shut down when an employee tests positive for COVID-19. Roslyn Stone, COO of Zero Hour Health, a leading company in restaurant health and safety, was quoted in Restaurant Business Online saying: “This is a person-to-person illness. Once you have the infected person out, there’s no more danger in the restaurant”. A deep clean seems to be sufficient enough following an employee testing positive. The key is to identify the employees who were exposed and hope that the group is small enough so that you don’t have to close. Timing is everything. If you catch this early and limit your employees’ interactions with one another, the faster you can return to normal.

This, however, comes from taking the proper precautions in the beginning stages. If you send your employees back to work unprepared, there will be an inevitable case. You need to be implementing daily employee health checks prior to the employee’s arrival inside the building to ensure your team is as safe as possible.

Harri Health Check Platform

The most innovative health tool in your back pocket!

Our daily employee health screening tool provides your team with confidence in their personality safety. More and more states are mandating some type of health screening as COVID-19 continues to change the game. These practices build transparency and accountability that your employees are privy to. A proper health screening tool should be easily administered and time efficient. That’s why we have developed a platform that is easily accessible through the Harri Live IOS mobile app.  The Harri Health Check Platform utilizes screening questions from the CDC to ensure that every employee is symptom-free before entering the workspace.

Our goal is to empower all restaurants and employers to screen their employees’ health by making it as accessible as possible. With every screening, you make a promise to your employees and customers that you are committed to curating a safe environment for everyone. Our platform allows you to:

  • Utilize our free mobile app to access the employee health check
  • Quickly log employee symptoms at the touch of a button
  • Efficiently capture temperatures before employees enter the workplace
  • Audit your health checks across your enterprise
  • Receive proactive alerts when an employee fails a screening
  • Generate a Health Check summary to be displayed for customers or attached to your delivery orders for peace of mind
  • Verify Employers and Employees are wearing required PPE through image capturing technology

How do I viably take an employee’s temperature?

As with all legal questions, we recommend you checking with your own legal council specific to the jurisdictions you operate in. However, Harri has validated that the solution does not violate HIPPA, OSHA, Data Privacy & Storage laws, EOCC, and ADA guidelines.

How can I prove that I am being compliant with my jurisdiction’s COVID-19-related ordinances?

Harri’s Health Check utilizes reporting and tracking capabilities to create an audit for employers. This audit includes: when the check was administered, who performed it, and records the responses. By having all of this information recorded, it is clear when an employer is administering their health checks. 

Through transparent health screenings, you eliminate any ambiguity to your employees. In the unfortunate event an employee does test positive, this is not game over for your business. The key is to have these health and safety procedures in place early on so that you can combat the likelihood of illnesses spreading. Our platform is meant to keep that line of communication open and available to you and your team. Together, we can empower employees to return to work and customers to dine-in knowing that they will be taken care of and safe. At Harri, we are working to demonstrate that the hospitality industry is a ‘people first’ business, and that begins with employees.