5 things: Safety concerns rising among dining workers still on the job

Each Friday Food Management compiles a list that highlights five things you probably missed in the onsite foodservice news that week and why you should care about them.

Here’s your list for the week of April 6:

Hundreds of foodservice workers at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) are demanding more protection from the novel coronavirus as they continue to staff the hospital’s cafeteria through the crisis. More than 300 hospital and UW employees signed a petition delivered to hospital management demanding the cafeteria be shut down for a “deep clean,” workers be given protective masks and gloves and temporary protective shields be erected around cashiers.

At least three workers at UWMC’s Plaza Cafe have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), the union representing the cafeteria workers.

Read more: Cafeteria workers at UW Medical Center demand better protection from coronavirus

School bus drivers in Central Ohio are demanding better protection as they claim meal drop-offs are exposing them to deadly coronavirus dangers. A day after Scoring Our Schools found out face masks weren’t mandatory for area districts continuing to serve meals, drivers at Westerville City Schools started calling in with concerns.

Related:5 things: Compass Group transforms US Open tennis court into meal kit preparation and distribution site

While Westerville is keeping its daily delivery service intact, Olentangy Local is reducing its service to one day a week after one of its food service workers started to experience virus-like symptoms.

Meanwhile, Columbus City Schools has already handed out 90,000 meals since the school closure and the food operations director told the school board delivery would jeopardize his staff.

“A number of school districts across the country that started with buses are slowly transitioning away from it,” suggested district spokesperson Joe Brown.

Read more: School meal delivery and pick up services starting to reduce and stop across county

Nearly 100 residents had to be removed from the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Southern California after a large portion of its staff stopped showing up for work. Magnolia has 39 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to county officials, and for two days in a row, 13 of its employees were no-shows. It’s unclear why, exactly, they went AWOL, but the lack of support staff forced the relocation.

Read more: Nursing home with 39 coronavirus cases evacuated after staff stops showing up

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The sudden collapse of the Bay Area catering industry has no end in sight. Culinary Eye, which often caters events for tech companies like Apple and Salesforce, was one of the first San Francisco businesses to start losing money because of the coronavirus pandemic. The company saw its first unexpected cancellation on Feb. 26. By the time March came to a close, the company had lost around $680,000 due to a rapid series of postponements and cancellations.

Tech offices have long been the lifeblood of San Francisco’s catering scene, but when companies like Twitter, Apple and Facebook began work-from-home policies in early March, catering opportunities all but disappeared. With the state’s shelter-in-place order extended through May 3, catering companies are planning for a future where large public gatherings become a thing of the past.

Read more: $680,000 lost in weeks: Bay Area catering companies reeling as tech offices remain empty

Amid rising economic insecurity and heightened uncertainty, the Purdue Student Farm is doing all it can to keep its local community healthy and well-fed. The usual outlets the farm sells to, mainly campus dining venues, are closed due to the COVID-19 virus, but the farm is still active and producing. Currently, the farm supplies Food Finders Food Bank and the on-campus ACE Food Pantry with fresh produce.

Over the last three weeks, Steve Hallett, horticulture and landscape architecture professor and advisor to the student farm, said, they have donated 100 bags of fresh greens to Food Finders every Monday and Thursday.

Read more: Purdue Student Farm is helping to stock local food pantries with fresh produce

Bonus: Social media snapshots of school lunch superheroes in action during coronavirus pandemic

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]