POCATELLO — A waitress in training at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery has tested positive for COVID-19, officials with both the restaurant and Southeastern Idaho Public Health confirmed Wednesday.

Perkins owner Stan Hales said the waitress was a new hire who had only worked two short shifts before calling in sick. The restaurant is located at 1600 Pocatello Creek Road.

Hales said she worked from 5 to 8 p.m. on June 2 and June 3, training and shadowing another waitress. Hales said during those hours on both days combined, he had 52 customers inside of his eatery. Hales estimates no more than a dozen customers had direct contact with the new employee.

However, because he was unable to provide a complete list of potentially exposed customers, Southeastern Idaho Public Health decided notifying the public would be the safest course of action.

SIPH alerted Hales about the positive test on Tuesday afternoon and advised him it was safe to remain open for dining on Wednesday.

“We spent all of last night in here really sanitizing and cleaning the areas of the restaurant,” Hales said.

Hales said he plans to have his whole staff tested. Some of the tests will be covered by private insurance and the state may cover costs for workers who can’t afford it, but Hales said he’ll fund testing for workers if need be.

“Most of my staff who were in contact with her have been tested today,” Hales said. “The others are on the way to being tested.”

Southeastern Idaho Public Health issued a statement indicating the risk to the public is low. The agency noted Perkins has cooperated fully with the investigation.

“There is the possibility that customers could have been exposed to COVID-19,” the statement reads. “Southeastern Idaho Public Health is recommending that persons who had been to Perkins on June 2 or June 3 monitor themselves for any of the following symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell.”

According to SIPH, symptoms may appear within two days to two weeks of exposure. Testing is available by calling 208-234-5875.

“Exposure to wait staff is more than casual contact like you would have at a grocery or convenience store,” Maggie Mann, Southeastern Idaho Public Health district director, said in the press release. “Because of the nature of the contact, we believe it is important to notify the public.”

Hales believes the culture of cleanliness within his restaurant has made his eatery safe. He said hand washing and sanitization have long been a part of the culture at Perkins, and the restaurant underwent a major cleaning during the period in which it was forced by state policy to close the lobby.

Though Perkins continues to offer meals for carryout and curbside pickup, Perkins reopened the lobby on May 16. He said his workers have been wearing masks, sanitizing salt and pepper shakers regularly, using paper menus and adhering to a host of changes to minimize the COVID-19 risk.

Hales customer counts have been down dramatically, and business was just starting to pick up last weekend.

“It’s been extremely challenging,” Hales said.

Hales emphasized that Perkins has made a commitment toward supporting community causes and events, and he’s hopeful that his customers will remain supportive of his business and “continue to weigh things objectively.”

“We need their business to get through this difficult time,” Hales said. “I think this is as clean and good an environment as they’ll find any place in town.”

A couple of other local businesses have also confirmed they’ve had COVID-19 cases among their workers.

J.R. Simplot spokesman Josh Jordan confirmed two employees of the company’s local Don Plant have tested positive and are recovering at home.

“As soon as we learned those individuals were showing symptoms or had been tested, we worked with the individuals to determine when and where they had been at the facility to identify co-workers who may have been exposed,” Jordan said in an email. “We’ve notified all employees and asked those identified to have been in close contact with these people to please quarantine until they have been symptom free two weeks.”

Jordan said caregivers from Bingham Memorial Hospital also came to the plant on June 8 to offer voluntary testing to workers. Simplot has had safeguards in place since early March at the plant including restrictions on all nonessential activities, policy changes to maximize social distancing, temperature testing of employees and facility visitors, extra cleaning of the facility, making masks available to employees and visitors and asking any employee who has been exposed to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine guidelines.

Amy’s Kitchen recently confirmed two workers have tested positive and are self isolating at home. Amy’s Kitchen checks staff members’ temperatures as they enter the facility and also scans them with a thermal camera to detect the disease. Furthermore, workers must wear face masks and safety goggles.

Southeastern Idaho Public Health confirmed five new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and three on Thursday — six from Bannock County and two from Franklin County. All of the patients are recovering at home.

The six Bannock County cases are all considered to have resulted from community transmission. The Bannock County cases involve two girls under age 18, a boy under age 18, a man in his 40s and a man and woman in their 60s. The Franklin County case involves a woman in her 20s and other in her 50s.

There are now 97 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Idaho. Statewide, 42 new cases confirmed on Thursday, bringing Idaho’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 3,302 and its total number of COVID-19 deaths to 86.