CONWAY, Arkansas — Normally, a holiday weekend would be go time for local businesses, but Stoby's Restaurant in Conway is closed.
It's because one of their employees tested positive for COVID-19.
"You know we, like I think a lot of people, had decided COVID was winding down and had quit requiring masks a week ago," David Stobaugh, owner of Stoby's Restaurant, said.
That was before Stobaugh found out that one of his employees tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
He said he immediately closed the restaurant and started contact tracing and disinfecting the building.
"We have cameras in the building and so we were able to do a close examination of who might have been exposed to this person," Stobaugh said.
It's something we saw a lot of last year where a business had to shut down temporarily because of COVID-19 cases amongst staff or customers.
Well, we are starting to see it again and it may not be going away any time soon.
"This Delta variant is so infectious that when it comes into the workplace it can easily spread and make it necessary to for a business or office to close," Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, State Epidemiologist, said.
Stobaugh felt transparency with his customers and employees. The community's safety was most important when he found out about the positive case.
"Conway has been good to us and I feel a real responsibility to the community to keep them safe," Stobaugh said.
Employees at Stoby's will now be required to wear masks once again.
Stobaugh said he has enough employees to open Stoby's for a day shift on Monday and Tuesday.
If all employees' COVID tests come back negative then he will begin normal business hours again on Wednesday.