A popular donut shop in Crystal Lake is dealing with the aftermath of a positive COVID-19 test at their business. A positive test, that was later reported as a negative.
After first receiving the news of a positive test among employees early last week, Country Donuts shut down its Crystal Lake location for a deep clean of the facilities. The owner going so far as to post a photo of himself whipping off equipment to ensure customers of their efforts. By Thursday, Country Donuts was once again serving up and bringing in the dough once more.
“Our main concern is and has always been the safety of our staff, customers, and community.” Jake Clemment with Country Donuts said Friday afternoon. “We above all, are happy to report that currently every member of our team is healthy and we intend to take the necessary precautions to keep it that way.”
It wasn’t until a week after reopening, on Thursday, the business learned of the false-positive.
When asked if it shook their confidence in COVID-19 testing, Country Donuts said: “We’ll let the IDPH handle the testing, while we continue to make the world’s best donuts.”
The false-positive resulted in a few days of missed sales for the restaurant.
The Illinois Donut Shop is far from the only business to deal with false COVID-19 testing results in the U.S. A Southwest Florida daycare in North Port, Florida knows the perils a false-positive can cause with closings, loss of income and forcing people to take time off. After a test with Sarasota County officials, the Sarasota County Health Department was ‘very adamant’ the center close for two weeks. Later, the daycare reportedly received a call from health officials telling them after a nurse had ‘made a mistake.’
Country Donuts says the false-positive won’t shake the dedication to their craft.
“When it comes to winning customers back, we are going to keep doing what we do best, and that’s making the world’s best donuts. This week we are proud to say that we were notified by TripAdvisor that we are a 2020 Traveler’s Choice Winner, and are ranked in the top 10% of restaurants worldwide. We would be nowhere near where we are today without our loyal customers, and we truly thank them all for their continuing support in these uncertain times.” Clemment said Friday.
“We have seen an amazing display of support from our customers over social media this past week. We have had to operate with extremely reduced staff, and we would like to thank every person who waited in the longer than normal lines. We are happy to report that our quarantined employees will be returning to work this weekend, and our customers can expect the same service and high quality that has built our business since 1976!” Clemment says.
We’ve reached out to the Illinois Department of Public Health for a comment on this story.
Have you or your business closed down and later discovered you had a false positive? If so, send us an email with your story to news@countryherald.com.
