Closing a restaurant for allegedly violating COVID-19 safety protocols wasn t a quick process in Jefferson County. From first warning to temporary shutdown, it took more than three months to shutter Golden s Dirty Dogs Roadhouse over a pro-Donald Trump event that was almost entirely mask-free and displayed little evidence of physical distancing. And the watering hole was open again less than two weeks later.
Dirty Dogs Roadhouse co-owner Rob Tompkins declined to comment on the episode and its aftermath. But Jim Rada, Environmental Health Services division director for Jefferson County Public Health, the agency that did the deed, chalks up the sluggish pace of the procedure to bureaucratic changes instituted between the first warning and the ultimate action.
WATERTOWN â No COVID-19 testing requirements are in place for tri-county area schools yet, and although no local districts fall within a âyellow zoneâ territory, districts across the region are planning ahead.
If a geographic area is deemed a yellow zone, the state Department of Health has made it mandatory for schools open for in-person learning to test 20% of students, teachers and staff at least once a week for as long as the school remains in a yellow zone. If the 20% tested reveal a positivity rate lower than that of the yellow zone, testing can stop, but if the testing reveals a positivity rate higher than the zone, testing will continue every two weeks.