An employee of the Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken in Florence is the latest food service worker to test positive for hepatitis A. The Northern Kentucky Health Department says the employee was infectious while working on August 25 and 26.
However, an investigation found the employee did not have bare-hand contact with food items and that classifies him or her as low risk.
The Health Department did not find violations directly related to poor hygienic practices related to the investigation. Guidance from the Kentucky Department for Public Health and Centers for Disease Control considers transmission to patrons to be unlikely under these conditions.
A news release says that since January 2018, 67 cases of hepatitis A have been reported in Northern Kentucky. For the state overall, the total reaches 1,495.
Other restaurants where workers tested positive were the Newport Syndicate, the Miami Township Taco Belland the Owenton McDonalds.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department, in it's four county jurisdiction of Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton, doesn't require restaurant workers to be vaccinated against hepatitis A but strongly encourages it.
