Staff members sent into quarantine after an employee tested positive at a Gorleston pub have not shown coronavirus symptoms.
Last month, an employee tested positive for the virus at Wetherspoon’s Wiliam Adams pub, prompting the self-isolation of eight further colleagues who they had been in close contact with.
Two weeks on, Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said that no other staff members, including those currently isolating, had shown any symptoms.
He said: “The one staff member who tested positive will continue to follow government guidance, until they are safe to return to work.
“No other staff members (including those currently isolating, as a result of close contact) have reported symptoms, nor have any of them tested positive.
“No customer details have been requested.”
After the case was reported, an environmental services team visited the premises and found that the pub had been thoroughly cleaned.
Officials said all correct procedures had been followed and the pub was allowed to continue trading, warning that could change if more cases were confirmed.The pub was then visited again on August 11 as a follow up, with Mr Gershon stressing that environmental health services “remain happy” with the chain’s ‘Covid-secure operating plan’.
Mr Gershon previously said that 29 members of staff had been identified as being on site at the same time as the infected worker, but that only eight had been advised to isolate for 14 days.
He said: “The advice Wetherspoon has received from the authorities indicates that those employees working with someone who tests positive should self-isolate if they have been within two metres for 15 minutes or more – for example, working next to someone on the bar or in the kitchen.
“In these circumstances, it has not been the advice of the environmental health authorities to close the premises.”
In a statement, Great Yarmouth Borough Council said members of its environmental services visited the Wetherspoon pub on August 2.
It said: “The council officer confirmed that Covid-secure measures were in place, in line with Government guidance, and the correct procedures had been followed, including with respect to thorough cleansing and the staff member self-isolating.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said customers would only be contacted if they were deemed to be at risk and that anyone who was worried should only arrange a test if they displayed symptoms.
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