KAILUA-KONA — Four more employees of Shiono Sushi Waikoloa returned to work as of Wednesday after testing negative for hepatitis A — bringing the total number to 10 so far.
The restaurant’s 25 employees were all ordered to test for the infection after an employee there tested positive earlier this month. Employees must test negative before they can return to work.
The employee diagnosed with hepatitis A is believed to have contracted the infection on Oahu. Store management said she is recovering away from the restaurant and cannot return to work until she tests negative.
The store has been able to remain open by sending employees from its other locations in Kailua-Kona and Mauna Lani.
Although employees at those locations aren’t required to test for the infection, Shiono Sushi administrating manager Yuka Kawakami said the company would like to test all 98 of its employees across the three stores.
By Tuesday, the day the Hawaii State Department of Health announced the infection, Kawakami said six employees had already tested negative for the infection and on Wednesday, an additional four had been cleared.
The health department said anybody who ate at the Waikoloa restaurant between July 5 and July 21 may have been exposed to the disease, though the likelihood of infection is “very low.”
Kawakami said the store will be watching for any indication of an infection stemming from the store but that, so far, there haven’t been any.
“We haven’t gotten any reports somebody’s been infected,” she said.
Kawakami on Wednesday said she ate food from the restaurant herself during that time frame and her blood test returned a negative result.
She added that she hasn’t been telling customers they need to get vaccinated, saying that is a choice customers should make for themselves.
“That’s their option,” she said, “not something we have to tell them.”
While there haven’t been any reports of illness, the company is advising concerned customers who ate at the restaurant during the exposure window to monitor their health conditions and, if symptoms arise, consult their health care providers.
Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, diarrhea and yellow skin and eyes.
Kawakami added that the store is still running its regular operations and is still getting customers.
“Since we don’t have any positive employees, we don’t need to close,” she said.
Gail Ogawa, public health educator, said the department releases notifications about hepatitis A diagnoses in food service workers as a way to notify the public when a restaurant is unable to inform customers who might have been exposed to the disease. She said this is often the case with businesses that do much of their business in cash.
“Future customers wouldn’t be considered exposed,” she said.
Those who ate at the restaurant during that time frame can receive a vaccination or immune globulin within two weeks of the possible exposure.
Beyond two weeks after exposure, she said, customers should keep an eye on their health and call their health care provider about any concerns. She said the department doesn’t normally recommend people who aren’t food service workers get tested for the infection unless they are showing symptoms.
Ogawa added that the source of the outbreak, which has involved 93 confirmed cases of hepatitis A, is still being investigated. All of the diagnoses have been in adults who were on Oahu during their exposure period, she said.
