Lynch’s Irish Pub was sanitized over the weekend and general manager Keith Doherty has announced new health measures to keep staff and customers healthy.
Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach, Florida has reported that seven of its 49 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. The news comes after 15 people tested positive after having all been at the Jacksonville Beach nightlife spot on June 6.
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Lynch's Irish Pub reopened as a restaurant as part of Florida's first phase of reopening, but the cluster of 15 confirmed coronavirus cases can be traced back to Lynch's on June 6, the first weekend that pubs and bars reopened in Florida.
Erika Crisp, who as at Lynch's Irish Pub on June 6 and has now tested positive for COVID-19, says she hopes people can learn from her mistake.
“So this is a lesson for everyone, for all of us,” Crisp told the local News4Jax.
“We’ve all been stuck indoors for months being careful, social distancing, doing everything the right way, ” Crisp said. “And then the first night we go out - Murphy’s Law, I guess.”
“The only thing we have in common is that night [June 6] at that one bar,” she added.
In a public Facebook post on June 13, Crisp, who noted that Lynch's "stepped up and did the right thing," wrote: "Again, I should have known better. I should have been more cautious. But alas, it is what it is. I have it, my friends have it, we can give you that info & you can do with it what you will. I encourage everyone to be considerate of others. We’re not out to hurt anyone or damage an establishment's reputation. We have no agenda or motive. These are crap times, so be kind."
After Irish man Keith Doherty, the General Manager of Lynch's Irish Pub, learned of the outbreak linked to his pub, he called in a cleaning company to do a sanitization which cost over $7,000.
Doherty told First Coast News: “It’s not that you can you put a price or value on people’s health.”
He added: “We can’t guarantee that people aren’t going to get sick because of the nature of this virus, but we’re going to keep on top of what we can do to prevent things.”
Doherty said that hand sanitizer stations will be placed throughout the pub, and customers and employees will be subject to temperature checks upon entry when the reopen.
“When we do reopen, it will give our customers peace of mind. At Lynch’s, we will have a clean building and clean, healthy employees.”
News4Jax reported that Lynch’s was planning to reopen on Tuesday morning.
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