WPTV investigates the delay with which the public is informed of an employee suffering from hepatitis A in the Cooper's Hawk Winery restaurant



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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health announced it has informed the Cooper & Hawk Winery and its restaurant at Palm Beach Gardens on May 21 that one of its

employees tested positive for hepatitis A.

Two days later, an alert was sent to customers.

The restaurant's marketing director said the company had not immediately alerted the customers because health officials had instructed him to announce that the announcement was to come directly from the health department. Florida Health in Palm Beach County.

The delay with which the public was informed is annoying for Palm Beach Gardens' lawyer, Krista Sauerberg, who ate at the restaurant during the possible exhibition window.

"We never would have known," said Sauerberg, who added that she had been warned by one of her employees who had seen the news. "We are at Cooper Hawk on May 7, which is in this window of exposure."

Health officials say guests who ate at the restaurant from May 1-12 may be at risk, but only guests who ate there from May 9-12 may still be protected by receiving the hepatitis vaccine. A within 14 days of their exposure.

"I was two days away from the window, so even though they knew that two ads had been announced before yesterday (Thursday), I would have been able to have a different protocol option, which would have been more effective, "said Sauerberg.

If Sauerberg had been notified on May 21, like the restaurant, she could have received the vaccine on the last day of her two-week window.

"It's at that point that they should have all been on the bridge," Sauerberg said.

Two weeks after potential exposure to hepatitis A, the doctors said that all you could do was monitor the symptoms or get tested.

"People can transmit the virus if they are infected even before they show their symptoms, and even for a few days after the virus is cleared," said Dr. David Dodson, infectious disease specialist . at the right Samaritan Medical Center.

Dr. Dodson said the symptoms could appear between 15 and 50 days after exposure.

Sauerberg said that she had still received the vaccine and that she had been tested. Cooper Hawk said all his staff were now vaccinated. Sauerberg said she hoped other restaurants would be proactive in vaccinating staff.

"A high profile event is uncomfortable for the restaurant, but it's really an opportunity for change and an opportunity to stop that," added Sauerberg.

Cooper's Hawker Winery and Restaurant has set up a hotline to answer questions from customers and to provide resources for testing and vaccination sites. The number of the hotline is 888-719-5058.

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