Dublin pub announces temporary closure after staff member tests positive for Covid-19

The Old Orchard Inn in Rathfarnham has announced its temporary closure after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19.

Being a pub that serves food, the Old Orchard has been open since June after being forced to close in March due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, on Monday a post was shared on Instagram which confirms that the pub will be temporarily closed after a staff member contracted Covid-19 outside of work.

The post in full reads:

‘Today we have made the difficult decision to close our premises until further notice.

‘We feel it is the responsible decision as the health and well being of our staff and customers is of utmost importance to us.

‘Due to an isolated incident of a staff member testing positive for Covid-19 outside of the workplace, we will be closed until further notice.

‘We are in the process of having all staff members tested to rule out any possibility of it being on our premises.

‘Anyone that has visited us since we reopened at the end of June will know how seriously we have followed the guidelines that were issued.

‘For those who have an upcoming booking with us, we will be in touch as soon as possible.

‘We really appreciate all of your support at this time.’

https://www.instagram.com/p/CE10tSvnqvu/

The news comes six days after Blue Bar in Skerries also announced they would be closing temporarily due to a Covid-19 case among staff.

Earlier today, the Cabinet decided that pubs that don’t serve food will be allowed to open from Monday, September 21, subject to local restrictions. However, with cases rising in both Dublin and Limerick, one expert has suggested that pubs in the capital may have to wait a while longer.

(header pic: @TheOldOrchardInn on Instagram)

READ NEXT: Local artists to ‘barricade’ Grogans entrance in solidarity with publicans