Covid Code Crew Criss-Crosses Cove

The city’s Covid-19 safety crew stumbled upon two weddings at once at Anthony’s Ocean View — and had to figure out how to do their job without spoiling the fun.

The five city health, building, and fire safety inspectors assigned to the team found themselves in that quandary Thursday evening during a two-hour shift visiting reopened businesses on Long Wharf and in Morris Cove.

“We’re trying not to intrude on the ceremony,” Deputy Fire Marshal Jennifer Forslund said halfway through the Anthony’s Ocean View visit. ​“We’re just trying to help people maintain compliance.”

They managed to do just that, getting management to hand out face masks and encourage better social distancing, all without taking the spotlight away from the bride and groom getting married near the beach. (More on that below.)

Forslund joined Building Official Jim Turcio, Fire Investigator Douglas Wardlaw, Demolition Inspector Jose Romero, and Senior Sanitarian Brian Wnek on the weekly rounds Thursday evening. With their years of collective expertise enforcing health and safety standards for the city — and their months of focused attention on Covid-19-related business concerns in particular — the group knew just what to look for.

Social distancing. Mask wearing. Directional floor markings. Clear signage about the state’s Phase 2 regulations. Accessible hand sanitizer. Plexiglass barriers at food pick-up areas. And much more.

They also knew how to conduct such an inspection tactfully and nudge the waterfront restaurant towards compliance without drawing a lot of attention to themselves.

Trend: Bars Masquerading As ​“Restaurants”

Thursday night’s round of inspections represented the latest effort by this task force from the city’s building, health, and fire departments to make sure New Haven businesses are following the state’s Phase 2 reopening guidelines.

Those are the regulations put forth by Gov. Ned Lamont in mid-June that seek to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 while still allowing for the partial reopening of a range of businesses — including restaurants, offices, and most retail outlets.

City inspectors visit a different part of the city every Thursday, popping into businesses unannounced to assess compliance, educate owners, employees, and customers, issue warnings, and occasionally shut an operation down.

During a phone interview with the Independent, city Health Director Maritza Bond said that, from April 13 to August 11, the health department had received and addressed 165 complaints regarding reopened businesses.

She said 100 of those complaints were food service-related, 60 were ​“nuisance”-related, two were at gas stations, and three were at hair salons and barber shops. Some of the ​“nuisance” complaints pertained to overflowing dumpsters, overcrowding, not wearing masks, and not adhering to 50 percent capacity restrictions.

Bond said that the department has ordered nine businesses closed during that time, including three businesses that closed voluntarily.

And she said her department has seen a new trend as of late, of bars trying to pass themselves off as restaurants — while focusing their business on alcohol sale only, which is not allowed during Phase 2.

“We are seeing a trend of complaints of certain restaurants that transition in this mode of serving alcohol without food, or are playing loud music or things of that nature,” she said. ​“It’s critical that Phase 2 establishments remain in the restaurant model and not transition over [to a bar model] because we will enforce all safety protocols that are necessary to mitigate the pandemic in our city.”

Bond framed Thursday’s East Shore visit, as well as the rest of the weekly outings undertaken by the city inspection crew, as focused on education first and on enforcement only when necessary.

“We go in and make corrective actions as we’re onsite,” she said. ​“We’re not intending to go in with an enforcement arm, but going in with an education arm, and being supportive to the businesses that are opening.”

“Horse Racing Is A Dying Sport”

Such was the approach of Thursday’s team of five, who kicked off the night by meeting up at 6 p.m. in the parking lot of Sports Haven, the sports bar and horse race betting facility at 600 Long Wharf Dr.

Wardlaw (pictured) and Romero said that inadequate social distancing and insufficient mask wearing are the two most frequent problems they’ve experienced during their past few months of inspecting businesses for Covid-19 regulation compliance.

“A lot of people don’t want to be told what to do,” Wardlaw said, particularly when it comes to keeping physically separated from others and covering one’s mouth and nose while out in public.

He an evangelizer for the importance of following Covid-19 safety regulations — not just because of his job as a professional public safety inspector, but also because he survived a bout of the novel coronavirus disease himself.

“It was a horrible experience having Covid-19,” he said. ​“I was fortunate enough to not die from it.”

Romero agreed that some businesses ​“do respect the regulations. You also have some individuals that do not. People have to realize that this is not a fake virus. And that you have to be smart and not play with matches, or else you’re going to get burned.”

The inspection got off to a promising start as Turcio pointed out the ​“Please Wear a Mask” sign prominently displayed at Sports Haven’s entrance. Letting customers know right off the bat that this is a business that takes Covid-19 seriously? Check.

“Nice directional signage,” Forslund mused as the team followed the one-way route defined by arrows taped on the ground, pointing from the front door to the escalators.

On the complex’s cavernous second floor, they found few customers — and appropriately distanced tables, chairs, and touchscreen betting machines. The walls bore paper towel dispensers, spray bottles of disinfectant, and signs letting customers know that management cleans the space regularly, but that they can wipe down their tables too if they want to be extra careful.

A seating area that would normally hold diners eating a meal as they watched a towering screen filled with horseracing was roped off, as the kitchen remained closed. Everywhere one turned, one saw signs indicating: No mask, no service. A plexiglass barrier at a counter separated employees from customers placing bets.

“Everything looks tremendous,” Forslund said about the extent to which Sports Haven was following the guidelines.

Louis Ferraro, the head of security at the betting complex, assured the inspectors that employees wipe down the betting machines ​“a couple times a day.” He said the third floor is closed to customers, as that’s where the telephone betting takes place.

“The kitchen upstairs is closed?” Wnek asked. That’s right, Ferraro said.

Turcio recalled coming to the venue decades ago to eat at the upstairs restaurant. This was a very different, and very lively, place in the 1990s, he said.

“Horse racing is a dying sport,” Ferraro observed ruefully.

He said this year’s celebration of the Kentucky Derby at Sports Haven in three weeks is going to be quite different from years past, as the venue won’t be serving food or alcohol as it complies with the state’s Phase 2 reopening guidelines. ​“It’s gonna be weird,” he said.

Forslund, Wnek, and the rest of the team had nothing but praise for the diligence with which Sports Haven’s managers, employees, and customers were following the state-mandated safety precautions.

“This is ideal,” Forslund said. ​“I wish they were all like this.”

No Masks At Krauszer’s

The team found a less ideal business setup at its next stop, at Krauszer’s Food Store at 25 Townsend Ave. in Morris Cove.

Soon after getting out of his car, Turcio had a sense that this spot might present a bit more concerns than the last.

“Two people just came out, and they weren’t wearing masks,” the building official informed Wnek as they heading from the parking lot to the store’s front doors.

Indeed, upon entering, the group found that employees and customers alike were not wearing face coverings.

Forslund ducked under a rope barrier to take a closer look at the convenience store’s kitchen. ​“Got a face mask you can put on?” she asked a fry cook as he paused in between customers. He nodded and retrieved a mask from nearby, which he wrapped around his face and nose.

While standing amidst the kitchen equipment, Forslund spotted safety concerns that extended well beyond those related to Covid-19 and Phase 2 regulations.

She saw that the commercial kitchen’s range hood and ANSUL fire protection system were four months overdue for an inspection and had accumulated enough grease to present a fire hazard. The fire extinguisher in the kitchen, meanwhile, hadn’t been serviced since 2017. And the emergency exit door at the back of the kitchen was locked shut with a key. When she managed to open it, she found that the door let out into a yard separated from the front parking lot by a locked chainlink fence.

“Put your mask on, and come over here,” Turcio said to Basit Malik, who was working the front counter. Wardlaw got Malik to lock the front door first so that no more customers could come in for the duration of the inspection.

Forslund took Malik out through the newly opened emergency exit and explained all of the hazards and violations she had noticed. She told him that the emergency exit has to be unobstructed — and that the fence outside can’t be locked, or else people will be trapped close to the building in the event of a fire.

Malik promised to tell the store’s owner about all of the violations. Forslund said she would be back on Friday to check in on everything she had noticed during Thursday’s inspection.

Malik said he has worked for the owner of the store for about two years, but only recently transitioned from a Hamden store to the Morris Cove outlet towards the beginning of the pandemic. Why? Because so few employees wanted to come to work out of a concern of getting sick, and Malik saw an opportunity to put some extra hours in and make a little more money.

“I think if you’re being safe and behind the barrier at the register, you’reOKk,” he said. Plus, not coming to work wouldn’t make his rent go away, he said. ​“How are you gonna pay the bills?”

Back in the store, Wardlaw literally poked around to see if there were any other safety violations to alert management about. He picked up a long plastic yellow toy baseball bat and prodded the Exit sign hanging from the ceiling near the front door.

The sign’s red glow didn’t flicker. That wasn’t good, Wardlaw said.

In the event of a blackout, these signs are supposed to transition from an electric power source to batteries. A lack of a flicker indicated to him that this sign was powered entirely by electricity, with no battery back up. That meant that, if the power went out, customers and employees would be left completely in the dark.

“This is a nice and fairly clean store,” Wardlaw said. ​“But they’ve just gotten lazy.” He suspected that the owner has several stores, ​“is stretched thin, and can’t stay on top” of basic safety precautions.

Before leaving, Wnek gave Malik a paper checklist he encouraged his staff to fill out every morning when they arrived for work. An employee should list his or her name, time arrived for work, temperature, and if he or she has any Covid-related symptoms.

Forslund told Malik that the store would have to immediately suspend all hot food service until the hood and ANSUL system are inspected, as well as all propane sales thanks to inadequate safety precautions around the mini-tanks stored outdoors. She said the store could continue with its cold food prep and service in the interim.

“We know it’s a hard time for everyone,” Forslund said to Malik. ​“We appreciate your cooperation. Your safety is as important to us as the safety of your customers.”

1 Restaurant, 2 Weddings

The team got to Anthony’s Ocean View restaurant at 450 Lighthouse Rd. soon after 7 p.m. — and Wardlaw and Forslund were immediately concerned. Not because they saw people not wearing masks, but because the parking lot was filled with cars.

Considering the capacity restrictions imposed by the Phase 2 reopening regulations, this abundance of cars could point to a potential overcrowding issue.

The inspectors quickly learned that the restaurant wasn’t open for regular dine-in business Thursday night. Rather, Anthony’s Ocean View was playing host to two weddings, both held outdoors — one in a covered seating area adjacent to the parking lot, one uncovered and looking out over the water.

Forslund ticked through the various capacity-related rules that could apply under Phase 2. Indoor private events had a capacity limit of 25 people. Restaurants had an indoor capacity of 50 percent of regular indoor seating. Outdoor private gatherings had to be capped at no more than 100 people.

But what about religious gatherings? Might these events fall under that heading if the weddings were being officiated by clergy of some kind?

The team split up to get a lay of the land while trying to remain as inconspicuous to the guests as possible. Wardlaw walked back through the front door and along the sidewalk to try to get a sense of how many people were at the smaller outdoor wedding.

“Nice signage,” he commented about the arrows pointing the way from the seating area to the bathrooms indoors. ​“And beautiful flowers.”

When he got to the dining area, he found a large dispenser of hand sanitizer. He took a squirt, and then peered around the edge of a wall to see what the dining layout looked like.

Tables were placed six feet apart. No more than 10 people at a time. Almost everyone was wearing a mask. And there were only around 50 people in total. ​“I’m super impressed by the level of Covid-19 awareness here,” Wardlaw told one of the restaurant’s managers who had come out to ask him if he needed any help.

Back inside the restaurant, a manager walked Forslund, Wnek, Romero, and Turcio through the main indoor dining room to the outdoor patio where the second wedding was taking place.

He told the inspectors that one wedding had around 50 people, the other around 130 people. He insisted that all of the night’s events would be taking place outside — even though the tables inside were set up with tablecloths, plates, and even glasses of water.

Turcio and Forslund praised the precautions they saw in place in the outdoor dining area. The tables were well distanced, plexiglass barriers separated the employees and food serving stations from diners, and posted signage and arrow markings clearly described one-way walking routes and the importance of wearing masks.

What worried Forslund was how close the wedding guests were standing next to one another as they watched the ceremony take place in front of the water and sunset. She noted that the restaurant had appeared to hire extra staff for the night’s events, which likely explained the surfeit of cars in the parking lot.

“I don’t feel like there’s thorough social distancing,” she said. ​“They’ll get a warning.”

Several minutes later, after she had tracked down another one of the restaurant’s managers, Forslund said that staff would be distributing masks to guests who did not have them Thursday night — and would be reminding them of the importance of keeping a physical distance when possible.

“It’s their responsibility that guests follow the rules,” she said, as challenging as that directive may be.

“One Day At A Time”

The crew’s last stop of the night was at another waterfront restaurant in Morris Cove, Amarante’s Sea Cliff at 62 Cove St.

They quickly realized that they would be ending the night on a high note.

All of the restaurant’s diners were sitting and eating outside. No more than 10 people at a time, all wearing masks when they weren’t eating. Employees walked around to each table with paper towels and disinfectant to wipe down surfaces after they were used. Clear signage, lots of hand sanitizer, no big groups.

“This is the ideal setup,” Forslund said.

Wardlaw complimented the staff on posting Phase 2 guidelines throughout the outdoor seating area. ​“You’re doing a nice job here,” Turcio said.

Forslund walked over to a group of seated diners to say hello, and to explain the purpose of the crew’s visit. ​“Thank you for your service,” one woman said to the team.

The restaurant’s head chef, Richard Agamine, thanked the city inspectors for the visit as they prepared to wrap up their shift for the night.

“We’re doing whatever we can to stay alive,” he said about the restaurant. ​“Thank God it’s warm. Thank God it’s summer.” He said he didn’t know how the restaurant would adapt to the colder months when people could not sit outside as comfortably.

He said they’d meet that challenge when it came. For now, they were grateful to remain open and serving food they could be proud of to a community they loved.

“We’re just taking it one day a time,” he said.

Ko Lyn Cheang contributed to this report.