HOUSTON — A well-known Houston-area restaurant group said its businesses will not be opening on Friday like many others.
Goode Company said they want to make sure customers are confident the food they’re eating is safe and free from exposure to the virus.
The business is testing employees for COVID-19 as well as the disease's antibodies.
The past six weeks have been tough for the Houston institution.
“It’s hard to put words to it,” Goode Company’s Levi Goode said. “I’ve just never experienced anything like this.”
The restaurant group decided it will likely reopen for in-house dining room service sometime next week as opposed to this Friday as Gov. Greg Abbott has permitted.
“This Friday is not just feasible to make that happen,” Goode said.
Goode said the restaurants need more time to make sure everyone is safe on both sides of the plate.
“What we want the public to know is that the people here are safe and that the food that they serve is untouched by the disease process that’s taking place all around us,” said Toby Hamilton, M.D., who is consulting Goode Company’s restaurants prior to reopening its locations to the public.
Goode said all of the company’s employees have and will continue to be tested for COVID-19.
Their temperatures will be checked before starting work and they will be wearing PPE.
Goode said workers will be provided ongoing sanitation education as well.
Workers won’t just be tested for COVID-19, but also its antibodies, to see if they have already recovered.
“By approaching the disease from two different perspectives it gives us the opportunity to catch it on multiple levels, and that’s one of the things we’re doing to mitigate the risk of tests that are false or may not represent what’s really happening,” Hamilton said.
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