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An Auckland restaurant, where a person with Covid-19 dined while infected, was sterilized to hospital standards before reopening.
Mezze Bar owner Sally Hindmarsh had to ask customers to leave over dinner on Friday after they were informed that a new community case of Covid-19 visited the restaurant the day before.
The person, a worker at the Jet Park quarantine facility, ate brunch at Mezze Bar in Durham St East, in the CBD, hours before he was tested for Covid-19, which came back positive.
David White / Stuff
Mezze Bar is a bar and restaurant serving Mediterranean cuisine.
Hindmarsh said health officials called the restaurant around 6 pm Friday to tell him the “very bad news.”
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The restaurant, which serves Mediterranean cuisine, closes immediately for a deep cleaning.
“We just closed the doors and told all the customers. We had reservations that we called and deferred, ”Hindmarsh said.
She was “quite shocked,” adding, “It’s stressful, but it is what it is.”
David White / Stuff
The restaurant reopened at 4pm on Saturday.
The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) said anyone who was at the Mezze Bar between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday is considered a casual contact.
Officials told Hindmarsh that the risk that staff had contracted Covid-19 was low and that they only needed to be tested if they had symptoms, such as a new cough and fever, or were concerned.
Mezze Bar opened at 4pm on Saturday, six hours later than usual.
At 4:45 p.m. M., About four groups were dining there and between eight and ten tables were reserved for the evening.
While some people had canceled their reservations, and he was “a little calmer than usual,” Hindmarsh hoped that being transparent about the situation would allay people’s fears about dining at Mezze Bar.
Hindmarsh, who was previously a registered nurse, said customers could be sure it was safe to eat there.
The staff was very attentive to hygiene.
Hindmarsh has owned the business for over 25 years.
It said Mezze Bar was delivering about 60 percent of what it had before it had to close due to closures, due in part to an increase in people working from home.
However, he remained optimistic that the business will recover again: “we are still moving forward.”
David White / Stuff
The Mezze Bar on Durham Street East had to close on Friday after being informed of the case visit.
“Every minute that we are closed is a great success for the business … Fortunately, we have loyal and regular customers. I think the public is going to back down [us]Hindmarsh said.
The person with Covid-19 dined alone at Mezze Bar and no close contacts had been identified at the restaurant.
After leaving the restaurant, the person went to Liquor.Com on Queen St for 15 minutes around 1.30pm on Thursday.
David White / Stuff
The Covid-19 case also visited Liquor.Com on Queen Street.
Those who visited the bottle shop between 1:00 p.m. M. And 2:00 p.m. M. That day is also casual contacts and they should watch out for symptoms, ARPHS said.
When Things visited Liquor.com on Saturday, a staff member said he didn’t know much about the Covid case visit because he wasn’t working on Thursday or Friday.
However, he said the Health Ministry told them it was safe to reopen and that it was still operating as usual on Saturday.
The liquor store’s sales did not appear to have been affected, he said.
People who scanned the Covid-19 Tracer app at those locations at similar times should be notified, confirming that they were there around the same time as the case.
However, fewer than 20 people received the alert, prompting the Health Ministry to reinforce the importance of using the tracking app.
