UPDATE April 30, 2020: The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has released the first listing of restaurants and workplaces associated with cases of COVID-19.
Officially termed “non-residential congregate settings,” this list includes restaurants, grocery and retail stores, outpatient health centers, and other workplaces–but not “institutional settings” such as nursing homes, long-term care centers, and correctional facilities (which are also tracked separately by the county on its website).
Businesses which appear on the new list are ones associated with “a cluster of respiratory illness” cases in workers and others associated with the location, plus at least one positive clinical confirmation of COVID-19. But, the department points out, appearing on the list “does not suggest neglect or wrongdoing on the part of the facility.”
Workplace Settings Associated with COVID-19 Confirmations
Anthony International, 12391 Montero Ave, Sylmar
Domino’s Pizza, 3631 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles
Fresh and Ready Foods, 1145 Arroyo St., San Fernando
Northgate Gonzalez Markets, 10801 S. Praire Ave, Inglewood
Principles Inc. Los Angeles Outpatient Center, 3217 N. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles
Ralphs, 7257 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
Walmart Supercenter, 1274 N. Azusa Ave, Covina
Western General Insurance Company, 5230 Las Virgenes Rd., Calabasas
April 22, 2020
L.A. County Public Health chief Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced that restaurant coronavirus cases will soon be publicly listed along with cases at nursing homes, treatment facilities, prisons, and other institutional settings.
“Later this week, we will be including on this list restaurants that have had outbreaks as well,” the Los Angeles Times reported Ferrer saying at a press briefing.
The details of the list have yet to be announced, but it will likely be similar to the county’s daily updates on other institutions where cases are confirmed.
The move to publicly disclose the information about restaurants comes after strikes and protests at several local food service operations where employees felt their health was put at risk.
At a McDonald’s location, workers staged “socially distant drive-through strike” protests in their cars after two co-workers reportedly tested positive for the virus. The workers there argued that brief closures for occasional deep-cleanings after confirmations come in are not adequate to keep them safe.
A complaint to the L.A. County Public Health Department claimed that four employees tested positive for COVID-19 at a single L.A. Domino’s location, but that managers kept the store open for another week, bringing in workers from other locations to pull shifts and then return to their own stores, and failing to provide adequate protective gear.
In the Domino’s complaint, workers also claimed they were not immediately informed of their colleagues’ positive test results. A public disclosure of restaurants linked to cases could help avoid that concern.
High-end restaurants are not immune to coronavirus outbreaks. Chef Nancy Silverton of the Mozza restaurant group announced her COVID-19 diagnosis earlier this month. Gjusta in Venice reported a staff member tested positive on March 30.
RELATED: Chef Nancy Silverton Has Become Ill with COVID-19
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