LBI Restaurant Temporarily Closes Due To Coronavirus Exposure

Josh Bakan
Updated ·2 min read

SHIP BOTTOM, NJ — Ship Bottom Shellfish will temporarily close because of coronavirus exposure, the restaurant's ownership group announced. The eatery will spend the next several days sanitizing, monitoring staff and seeking guidance from the Long Beach Island Health Department, according to the Tide Table Group.

The Tide Table Group owns several eateries around Manahawkin and LBI, including Parker's Garage, Mud City Crabhouse, Old Causeway Steak & Oyster House, Black Whale Bar and Fish House, Bird & Betty's, and Parker's Pearl. They decided to close all restaurants as a precaution.

Although details around the exposure weren't clear, the Tide Table Group doesn't believe this affected their other businesses.

"Considering the exposure combined with recent spikes, we feel (closing) is in everyone’s best interest," the Tide Table Group said in a statement. "We are confident this was not a company-wide exposure, but we feel it is important to act as a group."

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Several LBI businesses have temporarily closed because of potential coronavirus exposure but have since reopened, including The Chicken or the Egg and Pearl Street Market. Read more: LBI's Pearl Street Market Closes Due To Coronavirus

The Ocean County Health Department has reported the following coronavirus figures in LBI and surrounding areas as of Wednesday morning:

  • Barnegat Light: five cases, fewer than five deaths*

  • Barnegat Township: 266 cases, 12 deaths

  • Beach Haven: 15 cases, no deaths

  • Harvey Cedars: one case, no deaths

  • Long Beach Township: 25 cases, fewer than five deaths*

  • Ship Bottom: eight cases, fewer than five deaths*

  • Stafford: 260 cases, 28 deaths

  • Surf City: five cases, fewer than five deaths*

*If anywhere between one and four people have died from the coronavirus in any town, the OCHD does not specify the death toll in order to maintain patients' privacy.

Read more: NJ Coronavirus, Reopen Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

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This article originally appeared on the Barnegat-Manahawkin Patch