BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – As the Delta variant causes COVID-19 cases to rise across the Space Coast, restaurants are once again are closing to clean and give their staffs time to get healthy.
“We’ve been operating with an overabundance of caution for the past year and a half since the pandemic started,” said Emma Kirkpatrick, managing partner at Ossorio Cafe & Bakery in Cocoa Village, who temporarily closed her restaurant Tuesday — according to News 6 partners Florida Today. “As soon as we got a positive test, we immediately shut the restaurant down so we could evaluate the situation, hire professional cleaners and get all of our employees tested.”
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Restaurants that have closed include:
Ossorio Cafe & Bakery, 316 Brevard Ave., Cocoa, will be closed for an unspecified time. “Well friends, after a year and a half of being overly cautious, we’ve finally had one of our own test positive for COVID,” a Facebook notification posted Tuesday said. “On the plus side, we are all vaccinated, so symptoms are very mild.”
UPDATE: Ossorio Cafe & Bakery reopened on July 31, according to News 6 partners Florida Today.
Pizza Gallery and Grill, 2250 Town Center Ave., Suite 113, Viera, will be closed until Aug. 2, according to a Tuesday post on Facebook citing recent increases in positive tests for both COVID-19 and the flu. “Rest assured, the safety of our guests and team members is our top priority and we will not reopen until it is safe to do so.”
It will be closed until open at 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and will return to normal business hours at 11 a.m. Saturday at 11am. “Our team will be following CDC recommendations and wearing face coverings,” according to a Monday post on Facebook.
Villa Palma at the Village, 11 Riverside Drive, Cocoa, will be closed until Aug. 3. “We want to take the proper steps to ensure everyone is healthy during these times,” a Facebook notification posted Tuesday said. “We had one out of our 14 employees test positive for Covid ...”
28 North Gastropub, 2250 Town Center Ave., the Avenue Viera, closed Saturday. The restaurant will reopen at 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Monday post on Facebook.
Brevard restaurants with adjusted hours:
Walk-On’s Cajun Bistreaux, 8550 Napolo Drive, Viera, closed temporarily over the weekend, but has reopened with adjusted hours. “Due to limited staffing, we have updated our current hours of operation to 4pm-9pm and we will operate at limited capacity,” according to a Monday post on Facebook. We will continue to update you when we are able to return to our normal hours.”
Tely’s Chinese Restaurant, 6450 N. Wickham Road, Suite 111, Melbourne, announced last week that it would temporarily suspend lunch service because of staffing shortages. 6450 N. Wickham Road, Suite 111, Melbourne
Restaurants that have reopened:
Playalinda Brewing Company — Brix Project, 220 S. Washington Ave. Titusville, announced July 30 that it would be closed for everything but takeout beer. The restaurant reopened at 4 p.m. Monday, according to a Sunday post on Facebook. “Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding over this past weekend while our kitchen was closed.”
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