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Portland restaurant owner struggles with reopening after employees test positive for COVID-19

The owner got her entire staff tested and also found out she had the virus.

PORTLAND, Oregon — Kelsey Glasser owns Arden in Portland's Pearl District. She says the restaurant opened for dine-in a week after the governor gave the Multnomah County the green light. The restaurant was doing take-out only before it reopened in a limited way. 

It was just days after Arden started dine-in service when an employee came with bad news.

"One of our employees tested positive," Glasser said. "As soon as we found out, we were suppose to have a busy night that night and I shut everything down."

Credit: Bryant Clerkley

Glasser then got her entire staff tested and also found out she had the virus. Just to be sure the readings were not false positives, she got everyone tested again, and found out another employee was positive.

"Which is half of our team, there's only six of us," Glasser said. "Even if these three people are negative, I don't trust it. I don't want to run the risk of getting anyone else sick."

Director of Government Affairs for the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, Greg Astley, said restaurants are struggling with a lot of different issues right now.

"It's a very low-profit margin business," Astley said. "They are struggling to make ends meet now, keep everyone employed and keep everyone safe and healthy."

That's exactly what Glasser said she wants to do: keep the staff and the community safe and healthy. She said she's lucky because she has not shown systems and neither have her employees. She's in quarantine right now.

"It's a bummer," Glasser said. "It's the middle of the summer and we just got this patio open. Maybe if we were a bigger restaurant and had 15 employees then things could move forward."

Glasser does hope to try again on July 21, after the mandatory quarantine ends. She said she's staying positive and she credits her staff for staying strong.

"I actually feel like this is making everyone stronger," Glasser said. "I feel like it's making me a better leader and a better business manager."

Glasser said the community has shown her a lot of support. She has regular customers who always order takeout and leave large tips for the staff. She does have faith the support will continue.

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