The Hunt Club shut down Oct. 22 to Oct. 30, when its manager Terri White and her fiancé Dan Stevens tested positive for COVID-19.
Stevens said he felt feverish on the night of Sunday, Oct. 18, after a busy parents’ weekend at Hillsdale College, and came down with a dry cough on Monday, Oct. 19. Both White and Stevens decided to get tested just in case, and their tests came back positive Thursday, Oct. 22.
White decided to shut The Hunt Club down temporarily as they assessed the health of their employees.
“We told all our employees to get tested and we will reopen as soon as we have enough negative tests to run the restaurant,” White said.
After all the employees were tested, only two came back positive. Those two had not had any overlapping shifts with White or Stevens, so she speculates that the virus came in through at least two different sources.
While the restaurant was closed, White said, they scoured every surface with antibacterial scrub, from table legs and windows to floors and lighting fixtures.
“Even before the shutdown, we are always really diligent about wearing masks and sanitizing things,” White said. “Every time a new table comes in, we do pens, menus, tables, everything.”
Though The Hunt Club was only closed for ten days, White said she fears her clientele does not know that they have reopened.
Waitress Elizabeth Magana said rumors have been going around since the first day they were closed about the duration of the shutdown. Magana was negative when White requested all the employees get tested. She spent her 10 days off visiting an Amish community in Ohio.
Since she got back to work Oct. 30, she said that the decrease in clientele due to the temporary closing has affected her tips.
“I normally make my money during lunch,” she said, gesturing to a restaurant devoid of people. She said they would normally be much busier at noon on a Monday.
White is happy to have her doors open again, she said. She hopes her patrons come back soon.
“We appreciate the community’s understanding and patronage,” White said.
“It’s just one of those horrible things that happen, and we want to make sure that we aren’t responsible for spreading it.”
