Rookery, H&H, Dovetail close again after employees test positive for coronavirus

The Moonhanger Group opened its restaurants for dine-in services on Tuesday, only to close them again on Wednesday after getting positive COVID-19 test results back for some of their employees.

Owner Wes Griffith said in a Facebook post the company would close the Rookery, H&H Soul Food Restaurant and Dovetail on Wednesday due to the positive test results.

The restaurants in the group, including Natalia’s, set up testing for all of their employees the week prior to opening. The company did not receive the test results back until after they opened Tuesday, according to the post.

All of the employees were reportedly asymptomatic, which means they didn’t present any symptoms.

“We were confident, based on the low number of positive results reported in Bibb County, that none of our employees would test positive and we hoped to share that news with the public. Unfortunately and surprisingly, we have employees who have tested positive,” Griffith said in the post.

Natalia’s will remain open because the restaurant did not have an employee test positive for the coronavirus.

Georgia has topped 44,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and Bibb County has 436 cases with a case rate of 287 as of Wednesday morning, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

“We will spend the coming days retesting, examining the data, and identifying team members who are Covid free. We hope to resume to-go business soon,” Griffith said in the post.

This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 11:56 AM.