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SALEM -- BB Rooners restaurant is scheduled to reopen today after 4 p.m. following a voluntary 24-hour shutdown for deep cleaning due to a Covid-19 outbreak involving both customers and staff.
Salem City Health District Environmental Director Alan Masters and Public Health Nurse Kristin Toy both confirmed the outbreak Tuesday. Masters also confirmed what the restaurant had posted on social media about deciding to shut down, noting the staff was already in the process of conducting an intense sanitizing of the facilities when he arrived.
"I will be back in to see that everything is clean and the current employees are negative (for Covid-19)," he said.
Masters said all employees were being tested and if any tested positive, they were to stay away for 10 days. He said he had gone there Tuesday to check the restaurant due to multiple employees and some customers testing positive for Covid-19.
He said it will be safe for customers to return once the restaurant reopens later today after the extra sanitizing efforts.
Owner Roy Paparodis, who is a Columbiana County Commissioner and former Salem city councilman, announced on the restaurant's Facebook page that he tested positive, along with some staff.
With him admitting to testing positive for Covid-19, at the county courthouse, only one commissioner has been around the building and the office early this week and the county commissioners' meeting has been canceled for this morning.
Several offices in the courthouse have gone back to requiring masks to enter, including the commissioners' office, Probate Court and the office of the county treasurer.
Toy said this is the first outbreak the city has had in awhile since Covid-19 hit last year, but cautioned "we are still in a pandemic."
She said there are still risks out there and people need to keep up on their precautions, such as mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing. Both she and city Health Commissioner Alanna Stainbrook said residents should get vaccinated. Both said they have plenty of vaccine available.
Anyone who wants to get the shot should call ahead to 330-332-1618 to schedule an appointment. At this time, both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available. Toy said she's already making appointments for booster shots for people who are immunocompromised and have already been vaccinated.
While masks aren't mandatory and there's no state of emergency, the Centers for Disease Control are recommending that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of substantial or high transmission due to the Delta variant being so contagious. Most of the state of Ohio is considered high risk now, including Columbiana and Mahoning counties.
According to Toy, the outbreak at BB Rooners involves at least nine people in the city limits, but she's expecting the number to rise and she's sure there are people from outside the city affected also. She was told at least seven employees tested positive, but they're not all on her list, meaning some live outside the city health district. She did confirm that the outbreak appears to stem back to the weekend of Aug. 7.
That's the same weekend a lot of people were in town for class reunions and the Salem all school reunion, including many who visiting the restaurant, but Salem High School Alumni Association Executive Director Audrey Null refuted a claim on a local television station about the all school reunion being the location where Paparodis contracted the virus.
She said he was not there. She also said the committee selected the Saxon Club as the site for the all school reunion due to it being outdoors under roof and more ventilated than an indoor venue. They also had masks available for alumni.
For the health department, the outbreak is one more sign that the virus is still here and the numbers in the city are rising. According to Toy, the number of positive cases in June was 12. In July, the number was 25 and so far in August the number is 31 with two weeks left.
"I look for them to continue to grow," Stainbrook said, especially with school starting soon.
People who may have been at BB Rooners or think they may have come into contact with someone who tested positive anywhere should monitor themselves for symptoms and follow protocols for quarantining. If they show symptoms, they should get tested, Toy explained.
Some of the symptoms now can include fever, respiratory issues, cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache, fatigue and gastrointestinal issues.
At BB Rooners, Paparodis wrote on the restaurant Facebook page that all employees will be temperature checked and asked about symptoms daily and if they don't pass the check, they'll be sent home immediately.
"We at BB Rooners are taking this very seriously and have taken every precaution to make our facility clean and safe," he wrote.
A message was left for Paparodis by Staff Writer Deanne Johnson, but the call was not returned.
(Staff Writer Deanne Johnson contributed to this story)