In addition to our normal news coverage, What Now Atlanta is tracking ways Atlanta’s businesses are adapting to the novel coronavirus and the challenges it brings to brick-and-mortars.
Jenny Levison, the owner of Souper Jenny, Tuesday on Facebook announced she would be temporarily closing the restaurant chain’s Brookhaven location after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
“Good morning everyone, it’s Tuesday. I guess it was inevitable but we are having to shut down our Brookhaven store,” Levison said in an intimate video on the social media platform. “Someone in the kitchen tested positive. It’s very frustrating. We’ve been doing everything correctly. They have no symptoms.”
Georgia law does not require businesses to temporarily close when its workers contract the novel coronavirus nor does it mandate that the information be made public, but Levison joins a growing list of Atlanta restaurants that are making the decision to do both, voluntarily.
“I can’t imagine a restaurant that could be doing more than we are to stay safe,” Levison said. “We’ve been doing takeout this whole time but we’re going to be shut down, we’re going to get everyone retested. At this point, I would say all of our employees have had multiple tests and I know there are a lot of people worse off than us, but this is just very frustrating. So, I’ll be taking some deep breaths. Our other stores are still open and we will be back as soon as we can.”
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
8 Responses
I met Jenny years ago.
She seemed like a souper-nice person!
Seriously.
Thanks for the transparency, Jenny! Love your business and cannot wait to support you again.
Indeed!
Unfortunately, if your employees go out after work, which a lot of restaurant people do and they don’t wear a mask or they’re sitting next to others, it’s going to happen. No matter how well you’re doing in the restaurant, your employees have to be careful. Otherwise, they’re going to bring it in with them.
So staying at home 24/7/365 is going to prevent people from getting the virus? Are they allowed to go to the grocery store? Get gas? What about life saving preventative medical treatments? Staying at home forever isn’t going to prevent people from getting COVID. Staying home only postpones it. You will get it. You probably already had it and didn’t know it. People are dying right now because they can’t get cancer treatment, dialysis, cancer screenings, people are dying from strokes, and heart attacks because they are afraid to go to the hospital. People are suffering from unemployment, going to lose their homes, their cars, their children’s educations. Nobody considers all of that. It’s just a virus. It’s not Ebola, it’s not the plague. If you don’t have any preexisting medical conditions you have a 99.99% survival rate. Wearing a mask won’t stop you from getting it. You have to take off the mask eventually. You wear the mask all day. You breath through the mask. The virus sticks to the outside of the mask. You touch the mask. You take it off. You touch your face. Guess what? You got the virus.
Oh My God I’m scared! Someone at the restaurant tested positive for a virus with a 99.99% survival rate among people without preexisting medical conditions. Someone who probably has no symptoms whatsoever. They probably gave that virus to 20 more people who also have no symptoms who spread it to 100 more people who also have no symptoms. At this rate everyone will have the virus and most will never know they even had it. We need to keep the country locked down until next flu season, and then keep it locked down until then next one, and the next one. If it saves just one life it’s worth it! Think of all the lives saved by people not driving to work anymore. Meanwhile we all have to eat canned soup and dry biscuits because all of our favorite restaurants are closed out of ridiculous fear.
Tell us again why we should take medical advice from you.
And also tell us why a hugely successful business owner should take advice from you.
If all you’re eating is canned soup and dry biscuits, maybe it’s time to crack open a cookbook
— instead of being such a victim.