The Oswego Sub Shop announced in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon that one of its part-time employees tested positive for COVID-19, as first reported by WTOP-10 TV’s Zac Case on Twitter.
Sub Shop owner Bill Greene confirmed that the employee was an in-house employee that was preparing subs. The employee’s last shift was on Sunday, Sept. 20, from 3:45 p.m. to 10:35 p.m.
In the Facebook post, it said the employee took a trip to the Adirondacks from Sept. 13 to Sept. 19. During the employee’s last shift, she was sent home early after allergy-like symptoms thought to be from the camping trip.
The employee was tested on Monday after waking up with a fever in the morning, according to the post.
“We worked closely with the Oswego County Health Department to determine what employees needed to quarantine as a precaution for 14 days, they have been contacted,” the post states. “We followed the Health Department’s protocol to notify all of our 40+ employees before any notice was released to the public so they all heard it from us first.”
Greene said in the Facebook post that the shop has been going “above and beyond the required sanitizing levels recommended by the Health Department and the CDC.” Sanitizing Technologies, a sanitizing company based in Upstate New York, has come in once a month to sanitize the restaurant and delivery vehicles, according to the post from Greene.
The company also came in today and was spotted by The Oswegonian at approximately 1:30 p.m. with a van outside.
“The safety of our employees and customers has been and will always be our utmost concern and we will continue to make every maximum effort to keep our restaurant a safe place to work and visit,” Greene wrote.
The Oswego County Health Department said it will be putting out a press release at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
This is a developing story and The Oswegonian will update with new information as it becomes available.
UPDATE (Sept. 24, 3:50 p.m.)
The Oswego County Health Department, in its daily COVID-19 update, echoed the possible exposure at the Oswego Sub Shop on Sunday evening. Customers who visited the Sub Shop 3:45 p.m. to 10:35 p.m. could have potentially been exposed, according to the press release.
Any customer who visited the restaurant from those times should monitor themselves for symptoms for the next 14 days, according to Oswego County Public Health Director Jiancheng Huang, who emphasized the restaurant has been following all the health protocols set by the New York State Department of Health.
“The location was made public because our investigation shows there is a possibility of exposure to members of the public whom we could not track down,” Huang said. “This is consistent with our policy of notifying the public when investigations of positive cases determine there is a possibility that people who couldn’t be identified or contacted may have been exposed.”
Photo by Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian
