Businesses impacted by possible COVID-19 exposure

Chefette Restaurant at Six Roads, St Philip and Bryden Stokes at Barbarees Hill, St Michael, closed today as part of their precautionary measures in the wake of the possible exposure of members of their staff to the COVID-19 virus.

Following a media briefing on Friday night where the spread of the virus among members of the Barbados Prison Service and the Barbados Defence Force was revealed by Government, managing director of Cheffete Restaurants Ryan Haloute issued a press release indicating that management was assessing the implications of a situation where a staff member from the Six Roads outlet had attended a bus crawl on Boxing Day (last Saturday), which has been associated with a sudden spike in the instances of positive tests for the virus.

“At present there is no confirmation of the COVID status of this employee as they are currently awaiting the results from a COVID-19 test,” Haloute said, adding that all employees of the St Philip branch had been asked to self-isolate and that the branch had been closed.

Haloute noted that a professional cleaning and disinfectant crew was assigned to sanitize the branch thoroughly. He explained that it was anticipated the branch would be reopened tomorrow utilizing staff from other branches.

Meanwhile, Bryden Stokes’ managing director Adrian Padmore also issued a statement confirming the possibility that two of that company’s staffers could be compromised by exposure to the virus.

Though he did not specify the bus crawl, Padmore stated the employees had attended “one of the events” highlighted in Government’s media update last night.

Padmore said the employees had been contacted by both the management of Bryden Stokes and the COVID-19 Unit.

“At present there is no confirmation on the COVID status of the two employees, however, we will continue to communicate with them and the COVID-19 Unit for further information,” he said.

In the interim, Padmore revealed that all employees were asked to refrain from entering the company’s Barbarees Hill facility over the next 48 hours.

“This is a precautionary measure should there be any confirmed cases. As a further precautionary measure, the company’s contracted provider will begin sanitization throughout the company from [today],” he said, adding that an update would be provided to employees scheduled to enter the compound on Monday and Tuesday.

Padmore also advised all employees who attended any events identified by the Government, to inform their divisional or department manager or the company’s human resources manager.

Meanwhile, Popular Discounts says it was made aware that a single member of its back room staff at the Spooner’s Hill branch attended the bus crawl on Boxing Day referred to in the Prime Minister’s recent press conference.

At present there is no confirmation of the COVID-19 status of this employee as we are awaiting the results of the test.

The company says it will temporarily close the Spooner’s Hill branch on Sunday, for a thorough sanitization of the branch and to facilitate testing of the supermarket staff.

Popular Discounts expects to reopen the branch on Monday, utilizing staff from other branches.

These companies have joined Emerald City in closing operations temporarily. Managing Director Andrew Byone earlier indicated that nine staff members attended the bus crawl on Boxing Day and were now undergoing related testing. Bynoe said management had called in a medical team to test other members of the Emerald City staff who might have been in contact with those persons. (AH)