Hempfield restaurant owner Greg Cammerata was shocked when he learned he had to close his business for two weeks after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus.

“People were coming out; everything was great,” the IronRock Tap House owner said, noting the restaurant was open for dine-in services for only a week after some of the strictest covid-related restrictions were lifted this month.

“We were just shocked,” he said.

Several local restaurants recently have had employees test positive for covid-19, sending owners and their businesses into a spiral of confusion as they reached out to local and state health departments trying to find protocols for the situation.

Cammerata, who opened his restaurant in December, said he reported the confirmed case last week to the Pennsylvania Department of Health and a regional Department of Agriculture office, which issues retail food facility licenses, according to their website. A Department of Agriculture spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Arnold Ivey, executive chef at IronRock, said the health department told him that it was not required to report the cases unless a business had an outbreak. Ivey added that both departments told him the restaurant would have to close for one day for deep cleaning.

Guidance from state Health Secretary Rachel Levine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which were provided to the Tribune-Review from a state health department spokesman, suggests that only the area where the infected person was located would need to be closed and sanitized for 24 hours.

“A business needs to take steps to deep clean areas where an individual would have been to prevent further exposure and protect employee health,” a health department spokesman said.

Ivey added: “There’s definitely confusion just among all the different departments and everyone that you have to call and talk to. You have your local health department, your state health department and all those offices (needing) all the up-to-date information themselves. It’s a task.”

The restaurant sat empty for almost two months after the pandemic hit. Then it took another blow when the infected employee filled out a survey saying he or she had been in contact with several employees for longer than 20 minutes, Cammerata said. Those employees had to self-quarantine for two weeks.

“It’s not a situation where we had to close for 14 days. It was a situation where I didn’t have enough employees to open,” he said, noting that after he found out about the positive case he had every employee tested for covid-19. No other employees tested positive, he said.

The restaurant will reopen June 29.

John Huemme, owner of Sharky’s Cafe in Unity, found himself in a similar situation last week. According to Huemme, two Sharky’s employees were in contact with infected employees from IronRock and Hugo’s Taproom in Greensburg.

Hugo’s has been closed since last week in order to sanitize the restaurant after an infected employee entered the facility for a short period, according to a post on their Facebook page.

Out of an abundance of caution, Huemme said, the restaurant closed for four days while staff sanitized high traffic areas although no Sharky’s employees tested positive for the coronavirus. It reopened Monday.

“We were concerned,” he said. “We didn’t want to help spread anything.”

Huemme took several precautions prior to opening for dine-in services, including plexiglass along the bar and QR codes on tables that show a virtual menu. He said he, too, was unsure of requirements for reporting confirmed coronavirus cases.

“I don’t know how other places handled it,” he said. “I know Giant Eagle’s had their cases, Walmart’s had their cases, (Rivers Casino) had their cases. None of them have shut down.”

Employees at both restaurants follow a slew of precautions, the owners said, including having their temperature checked at the beginning of their shifts. Cammerata added that a manager now will ask employees who they came in contact with during their shift so they do not face a similar situation in the future.

Other area restaurants, including Buffalo Wild Wings in Hempfield and Dad’s Pub & Grub in Monroeville and Braddock Hills, have reported positive cases among their employees.

Officials at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hempfield Plaza, which is temporarily closed, learned Sunday that multiple employees tested positive for the virus. Officials did not respond to questions regarding the number of employees infected or when the restaurant would reopen.

An employee at Dad’s Pub & Grub Monroeville location tested positive for the virus after working last week, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The Monroeville location, along with a restaurant in Braddock Hills and a food truck, were temporarily shuttered.

The owners could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“(State and federal departments) definitely could do a little bit of a (better) job combining it all so it’s easier to access, instead of taking four to five days,” Ivey said.

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