An employee at downtown Thai restaurant Pai has tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the restaurant to temporarily close its doors. Pai made the announcement via Instagram yesterday, sharing that the staff member had last worked this past Monday and is currently quarantining at home.
“We have immediately closed our restaurant until further notice for deep sanitation and the full team at Pai is being tested and in self-isolation, although no other team members are experiencing symptoms,” wrote the restaurant in the Instagram post.
Toronto entered Stage 3 of reopening last week, allowing restaurants to resume indoor dining at a reduced seating capacity. Earlier this week, Pai shared photos of preparing to reopen their dining room, noting that they have been installing partitions between tables as an extra precaution.
Pai’s plans to reopen for indoor dining are now on hold. “We will only reopen when we feel it is safe to do so and only with team members who have tested negative,” reads the post.
Toronto Public Health has been requiring restaurants to maintain daily staff and customer logs throughout the stages of reopening. This allows the health unit to privately notify staff and customers if they’ve potentially been exposed to COVID-19.
Like Pai, some restaurants and businesses have also chosen to make public disclosures of COVID-19 cases linked to their establishments. Annette Food Market, for example, also made a social media announcement when one of their staff members tested positive for COVID-19 back in March.
“In these challenging times, we believe complete transparency is the only way forward,” wrote Pai in the post. “We apologize to everyone who had upcoming reservations for the inconvenience, and we look forward to welcoming you back at Pai very soon.”