Sacramento-area Panda Express suffers COVID-19 outbreak, reopens with new staff
A Panda Express in Placer County closed earlier this month after four employees tested positive for COVID-19, the Los Angeles-based restaurant chain confirmed to The Sacramento Bee on Thursday.
The Panda Express at 105 Ferrari Ranch Road in Lincoln has since reopened for contact-less pickup with new staff members. A company spokesperson declined to answer questions about the reopening time frame, other than to say the outbreak was identified earlier this month.
“The health and well-being of our guests, the greater community, and our associates (employees) are our top priority, and we have strict cleaning and safety procedures consistent with state and local requirements in place, including enforcing quarantine guidelines in case of positive cases, requiring both guests and associates to wear face masks at all times and implementing a social distancing policy,” Panda Express wrote in a statement to The Bee.
“The one location in Lincoln, CA had associates test positive for COVID-19 earlier in June, and we immediately enacted the appropriate protocols, including closing of the restaurant, conducting a special deep cleaning of the restaurant and quarantining all personnel that were in contact with the associates. We have been working closely with public health authorities to ensure proper and swift handling of the situation, with safety of those involved being the top priority.”
The employees who tested positive are quarantined and recovering well at home, Panda Express said. Those still working undergo daily health and temperature checks before starting their shifts, as prescribed in the state restaurant reopening guidelines.
Placer County pushed Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow brick-and-mortar shopping as early as April and was among the first to receive state permission to reopen restaurants for dine-in service on May 16.
The county had 174 cumulative positive COVID-19 cases when restaurants opened. It has since seen 286 additional people test positive over the last 33 days, including a pandemic-high 28 new cases Thursday. Bars, zoos, museums, hotels and more reopened last Friday.
Nation’s Giant Hamburgers closed its Natomas location last week after a worker there tested positive for COVID-19. The Northern California chain held that location’s grand opening three weeks prior.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 5:53 PM.