New details: Jolly Onion restaurant temporarily closed due to COVID-19 cases among staff

Kristen Warfield, Times Herald-Record
·2 min read

PINE ISLAND - A Hudson Valley restaurant temporarily closed after a number of employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The Jolly Onion restaurant posted on its Facebook page Nov. 21 that due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases among its staff, the restaurant will be closed until Dec. 1.

"The health of our staff comes first and if that means we have to take a loss of money, we’ll do that," the restaurant's general manager, Ashley Weigel, said Tuesday. "We've all been in close contact on our team scheduling app. The people who tested positive are having some troubles, but nothing too serious thankfully."

The restaurant originally shared on social media that one staff member contracted the virus and it would be closed down for a week on Nov. 17. Since then, two more employees have tested positive.

The outdoor patio at The Jolly Onion in Pine Island.
The outdoor patio at The Jolly Onion in Pine Island.

The restaurant is urging anyone who visited on Nov. 11 or Nov. 12 and is feeling symptoms of COVID-19 to get tested.

"We are most concerned with making sure we provide a healthy environment for our staff to work in and for you to dine in," the restaurant said in a comment thread on Facebook.

While the restaurant's site says the health department ordered it to close, a spokesperson for the county, Justin Rodriguez, said by email on Monday: "Per health commissioner Dr. Irina Gelman, the health department does not have any lab confirmed COVID-19 cases of Orange County residents associated with that facility."

According to Weigel, the restaurant's general manager, this is because two of the three employees that tested positive for the virus reside in Sussex County, New Jersey.

Weigel said she has been in contact with the Sussex County health department, which suggested the restaurant close due to the staff members testing positive. The staff, including Weigel, is now in quarantine for two weeks.

The Sussex County department of health declined to comment, when contacted for this article.

Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the restaurant had a number of catering orders and reservations that it needed to cancel due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Two staff members who were away during the week of Nov. 11 were able to coordinate donations of the food that was originally delivered to cover the busy Thanksgiving week.

Kristen Warfield is the food and business reporter for the Times Herald-Record. Find my stories here. Reach me at kwarfield@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: The Jolly Onion restaurant shut down due to COVID-19 among staff