The property in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., closed its kitchens for sanitization and began vaccinating all employees after learning that one employee had been exposed to an outbreak linked to a popular Port Chester, N.Y. restaurant. “This is a difficult situation, but we have taken steps above and beyond the health department guidelines,” said General Manager Eric Rule.
New York’s Westchester County Department of Health announced on November 10 that an ongoing hepatitis A outbreak in the region had spread to affect Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Food Safety News reported.
County health officials were already working to contain the scope of hepatitis A exposure linked to bartaco, a popular Port Chester, N.Y. restaurant that was temporarily closed in late October, after the county was notified that a bartaco employee had contracted hepatitis A, Food Safety News reported.
An alert then posted by the county health department disclosed that the department had learned on November 9 that an employee of Sleepy Hollow CC who had infectious contact with one of the five people originally exposed to the disease at bartaco had worked in the club’s Grill Room while infectious, Food Safety News reported.
The country club closed its kitchens the next day for sanitization and also began the process of vaccinating all of its employees for hepatitis A, Food Safety News reported. “This is a difficult situation, but we have taken steps above and beyond the health department guidelines,” said Eric Rule, the club’s General Manager.
Public health officials also encouraged anyone who ate or drank anything at the club’s Grill Room from October 27 to November 4 to get the post-exposure vaccine, Food Safety News reported. The Westchester County Department of Health already had clinics offering free vaccines scheduled to be open on November 10 and 11 in White Plains, N.Y.
“While the greatest risk is to those who ate or drank at the Grill Room, in an abundance of caution, the health department recommends preventive treatment for anyone who ate or drank at the club between October 27 and November 4,” said Dr. Sherlita Amler, Westchester County’s Commissioner of Health.
Hepatitis A is “generally a mild illness whose symptoms include fatigue, fever, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine, light-colored stool, and jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes,” Dr. Amler said.
Rarely fatal, symptoms of Hepatitis A typically surface within 28 days and can last up to 50 days, Food Safety News reported. It is usually transmitted by food and drinks handled by someone who is already infected. Feces from an infected person can also spread the illness. Proper hand-washing is the best prevention measure, according to the health commissioner.
A post-exposure vaccine can prevent the onset of the illness, but only if obtained within two weeks of exposure, Food Safety News reported.
Before the report that the outbreak had spread to the country club, Westchester County had already vaccinated about 3,000 people. at a cost to taxpayers that could run anywhere from $75,000 to $210,000, Food Safety News reported.
At her press conference after discovery of the case at Sleepy Hollow CC, Dr. Amler said that she was “not expecting to be treating thousands this time.”
Bill Marler, a Seattle, Wash.-based food safety attorney, suggested to Food Safety News that the restaurant should reimburse the county for the costs involved with all related vaccinations and containment efforts because of the outbreak.
“bartaco should now step up and reimburse the department of public health for the cost of vaccinating over 3,000 people,” Marler said. “Other companies in similar situations have paid for their error and relieved the taxpayers of the cost burden.”
The restaurant was open again by Friday night, November 10, with regulars filling its parking lot in support, according to local media reports.
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