INDIANAPOLIS — Huse Culinary, the operator of St. Elmo Steak House in downtown Indianapolis, reported an employee died while the restaurant was closed due to a coronavirus outbreak among staff.
Huse Culinary reported a COVID-19 workplace fatality to the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA) on Monday.
An IOSHA spokeswoman said although the workplace death was reported to them on Monday, this doesn't necessarily mean the employee died on Monday.
Additionally, the death didn't occur at the restaurant, according to a statement made by IOSHA on Tuesday.
“Please note, the fatality reported yesterday by Huse Culinary (St. Elmos) did not occur at the actual workplace location. A possible workplace fatality that is related to an illness, such as COVID-19, many times does not happen at the establishment itself, but at another location such as a medical provider or the home of the deceased," the IOSHA's statement said.
St. Elmo Steak House reopened with limited capacity Monday after the popular restaurant closed early Saturday.
The steak house, located at 127 Illinois Street, closed to be professionally deep cleaned after nine employees tested positive for COVID-19.
Craig Huse, CEO of Huse Culinary, released a statement on Monday regarding St. Elmo Steak House.
Huse said they worked closely with the Marion County Public Health Department and county health director Dr. Virginia Caine during the closure on how and when the company could safely reopen the restaurant.
“With Dr. Caine’s direction and plan, we have conducted a professional deep cleaning and sanitization of the restaurant and provided employees with the highest and most accurate level of testing," Huse said.
All returning employees will need to have a negative PCR test result from a Marion County Public Health Department facility or already be fully vaccinated in order to return safely to work.
Huse doesn't believe there was a risk of exposure to customers as a result of the employees testing positive.
"It is our understanding the Marion County Public Health Department has not identified any potential exposure risk to customers based on their contact tracing," Huse said.