July 14, 2020
Staff photo/PhillyVoice
Manco & Manco Pizza in Ocean City is closed Tuesday, July 14, 2020, after three employees tested positive for coronavirus. The popular pizzeria will likely reopen Wednesday with additional health and safety precautions. The file photo above, taken in August 2019, shows the pizzeria at Ninth Street and the boardwalk.
Three employees at Manco & Manco Pizza tested positive for COVID-19 recently, resulting in the popular restaurant closing its Ocean City Boardwalk locations on Tuesday for cleaning.
Manco & Manco announced the closings in a letter posted to social media signed by the Manco family. The family said the Ocean City locations are being professionally cleaned by company called BioBlast Inc. and they are expected to reopen on Wednesday.
The Cape May County Board of Health did not mandated Manco & Manco to close, and the restaurant is doing so voluntarily.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Manco & Manco also described additional health and safety measures it is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"The three affected employees are all self-quarantined for 14 days and will be retested before returning to work," the owners said. "All employees that have worked with these staff members have been required to get tested before returning to work."
One of the three employees is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and the other two are asymptomatic, Manco leadership added.
PLEASE READ THIS SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE OWNERS OF MANCO & MANCO
Posted by Manco & Manco Pizza on Monday, July 13, 2020
Masks, temperature checks, and routine hand washing and sanitizing already had been required of Manco & Manco employees prior to these three positive tests.
The restaurant chain will now be sanitizing high-touch surfaces by "making use of UV-C light technology" to clean areas such as credit card terminals and touch screen tablets and computers.
Single pizza slice sales will be suspended, and "safety seals" meant to help prevent COVID-19 spread by touch, will be applied to all boxes of pizza.
The service changes only apply to Manco & Manco's Ocean City boardwalk locations, not its restaurant further inland in Somers Point. However, BioBlast will also be sanitizing this location as a precaution, the owners said.
Manco & Manco opened its first pizzeria on the boardwalk in 1956 (It was formerly named Mack & Manco until 2011). It has restaurants on the Ocean City boardwalk at Eighth, Ninth and 12th streets, in addition to the Somers Point store in the Ocean Heights Shopping Center.
They have been open for pick-up and delivery in recent weeks during the coronavirus pandemic.
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