2 Hawaii McDonald’s Branches, Involved In Cluster Coronavirus Cases

Two McDonald’s stores in Hawaii were linked to a cluster of coronavirus infections, involving store employees and their family members.

On Tuesday, the Hawaiian Health Department said that an infected employee passed on the virus to six other co-workers to at McDonald’s locations in Kailua-Kona in Hawaii.

“Once confirmed, the establishment closed its operations at both locations and is currently performing enhanced cleaning,” the department said.

All seven employees who were exposed and were tested to be positive at the McDonald’s locations on Makala Boulevard at Kona Commons and Walmart in Kailu-Kona are currently being isolated and those employees who were potentially exposed without symptoms are quarantined, Fox News reported.

Aside from the exposed McDonald’s employees, five family members of two of the infected employees also tested positive for the virus, making it a total of 12 confirmed cases linked to the Big Island cluster, health officials said.

The investigation is on-going at this time and more cases may be identified related to this cluster,” the health department said.

However, health officials assured that this incident does not pose a health risk to the general public.

"Fortunately, the restaurant, like many other food establishments, had previously implemented social distancing measures to protect customers and prevent exposure prior to an employee testing positive," the department said. "These measures included protective clear barriers between employees and customers during all transactions. These efforts may have helped to reduce the total magnitude of this cluster."

The fast-food chain’s franchise owner, Patrick Lim, said that McDonald’s has closed the locations for “deep cleaning to conduct the comprehensive sanitation of the restaurant” and also, to continue to make changes to “serve food safely and conveniently with the health and well-being of restaurant employees top of mind”.

The health and safety of our employees and customers is our Number One priority," he said. "Our thoughts are with our crew members who have been impacted by COVID-19 and we look forward to re-opening when it is safe to do so and with the assistance of the Hawaii Department of Health in accordance with CDC regulations.”

According to Health Officials, the Food and Drug Administration has not yet found any evidence of COVID-19 transmission through food and food packaging.

Meanwhile, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim told KHON2 will continue to improve their preventions measures such as sanitation and strict observance of wearing of face masks in public to combat coronavirus infection and transmission.

As of Wednesday, the Johns Hopkins University reported 511 cases of coronavirus infections in California with at least nine deaths.