AMES, Iowa — Jordan Burgason has been a business for nearly a decade. He's seen a lot of changes, but nothing like the coronavirus pandemic. Burgason and his partner had to make the tough decision this week to temporarily shut down after an employee informed them of a positive COVID-19 test.
"We're preparing for it, and we were hoping that it would never happen, but you just can't think like that," said Burgason. "So when we did find out and it did happen to us, I think we acted pretty responsibly."
Burgason is the co-owner of Burgie's Coffee & Team Company. He said he hopped on a Zoom meeting with his staff the night when he found out about the positive test. He asked all employees to get tested for coronavirus. But then the decision became where to get tested.
"There's all these free TestIowa sites and I had talked to several people who had experience with those, and two of the three people I talked to said that they had to wait three to five days, and then they found out that the test was damaged and they had to do it again," said Burgason. "So at the end of the day, every day that we are closed, hurts us...and we wanted to be back open as quick as possible. And I would rather have results within 15 to 60 minutes and get them right away...rather than having to wait on results."
Burgason found out through another business owner in the area who also had an employee test positive that some Des Moines clinics were doing rapid coronavirus testing. So he called ahead, asking for his staff to get in, but the clinic didn't have an opening until a few days later. Burgason said the clinic was swamped with requests, but his staff was able to get tested.
On Wednesday, Burgason reopened the coffee shop and welcomed back a healthy staff and customers. He said he's learned from the experience.
"I feel like I could have done a better job at preparing my staff and having a policy and streamlining things," said Burgason. "It was just very stressful but I think that we have a great plan moving forward and the staff has a great mindset..."