Mon, Oct 2nd, 2023 - 10:38pm
April 30, 2020 - 10:25pm | By Chris Larson
Those heading to restaurants and bars throughout Fargo shouldn’t be surprised to see inspectors from the Fargo Cass Public Health Department this weekend. It’s the first weekend all restaurants and bars can be open since March, when Governor Doug Burgum shut the state’s restaurants and bars down due to COVID-19. And it’s going to be a task undertaken by a smaller group from Fargo Cass Public Health.
Chris Ohman, with the Environmental Health Department at Fargo Cass Public Health, says 10 inspectors currently serve the unit. Ohman, who appeared on The Nightly Review on Thursday on WZFG Radio, says that there are going to be approximately five or six inspectors heading out to the bars and restaurants this weekend, providing inspections. These “hybrid inspections” will key in on focal points.
But this is a situation that not many people have had to deal with before.
“With reopening, it’s a pretty fluid situation,” Ohman said. “There’s not a book on it.”
Fargo Cass Public Health will be doing as many spot checks on local bars and restaurants as they can. They will focus on customer and employee health and hygiene. In doing these checks, it is the hope of the Fargo Cass Public Health unit to avoid another surge.
“We want to keep both the employees and customers as safe as possible when dining in,” Ohman said.
The inspectors will be making sure that businesses are ensuring and following the social distancing guidelines, set forth by state and federal officials. This includes ensuring that no one is standing in a bar, which was one of the regulations that Governor Doug Burgum laid out this week. But, Ohman said, some of the guidelines will be placed upon the individual business owner to follow, as inspectors will not be able to spend a large amount of time at each business.
Enforcement and regulation of the guidance will come from the Governor’s office and North Dakota State Health Department, Ohman said.
Additionally, restaurants will be watched closely, as they are working with “higher operations” and are a “higher risk” facility, meaning that there could be food-borne pathogens and illnesses. The Fargo Cass Public Health inspectors will work with these groups more closely to ensure these types of things will not happen, Ohman said.
