Shingletown Saloon closes after patrons test positive for COVID-19

Update July 3: The owner of Shingletown, Dan Murphy, tells My Ballard that they’ve also had two employees test positive for COVID-19. He says he closed the bar immediately upon learning about the positive cases, and says he’s attempting to contact all customers about the situation through social media.

Murphy mentioned how difficult it was to get customers to adhere to the opening restrictions, saying that despite operating by reservation-only and at 25 percent capacity, it was “hard to get groups to stay at their tables as they tended to want to mingle with other tables.”

He said his plan is to stay closed a few more weeks, “until the virus cools out and it becomes a little more safe for people,” Murphy says. “In hindsight I do wish that mask requirement is mandatory during that time as it would’ve given us some defense.”

Original (July 2): Shingletown Saloon closed their doors last weekend after positive COVID-19 cases were traced back to their bar.

They announced the news on Facebook on June 26, saying they’ll close for another few weeks after learning of a “few positive cases within some guests whom have visited the bar in the last two weeks.”

“It has been very difficult to manage the bar and the behavior of our customers in regards to Covid policies,” they write, urging anyone who has visited the bar to be “extra cautious around others or possibly get tested to be sure.”

They didn’t specify if any staff tested positive, but we’ve reached out to the bar to learn more. We’ll update with any new information.

19 thoughts to “Shingletown Saloon closes after patrons test positive for COVID-19”

  1. a penny for the person who remembers the name of the business that was run by the man missing a few fingers but with plenty of sweaters and lefse cloths

  2. We have to expect that people will come up positive. It is a highly contagious virus. Nobody who goes out to a bar right now expects to be protected 100%. In fact those who are going out are willing to take the risk.
    For every positive case there are ten more who go untested. We have to put our fear into perspective. A positive test result should not induce panic.

    1. A positive test result should not induce panic.

      Who is panicking? Seems like the bar responded appropriately to the news that some patrons tested positive. They’ve notified the public and are temporarily closing so as to not risk the health and safety of their employees or patrons.

      It is a highly contagious virus. Nobody who goes out to a bar right now expects to be protected 100%. In fact those who are going out are willing to take the risk.

      That risk would be much more palatable if we could go out without having to worry about those who refuse to follow basic medical guidance and are not concerned with the basic health and safety of others based on their ill conceived notions of constitutional freedoms.

  3. Thanks for the information. I sure wish the city/state would show us a heat map of Coronavirus cases. We are in the dark whether Ballard has a lot of cases or just a few. I know it shouldn’t change our behavior…always act as if everyone has it and be careful. But not knowing also makes us complacent by thinking maybe the virus is not in our neighborhood….when it is.

  4. Is this contact tracing?
    Did Shingletown learn about its patrons’ unfortunate infection from them or from King County Health?

  5. The Shingletown Owner has it. He posted about it. Also, he had people crammed in there with no masks. Totally irresponsible. Also, the Matador is forcing people back to work that have been exposed to the Virus. Boy, you would think since the Matador had the e-coli scare they would act a little more responsible.

    It is too bad because there are a lot of restaurants and bars trying to follow the rules and keep their patrons safe but it only takes a few irresponsible ones to mess it up for all the responsible owners that are just trying to keep their businesses afloat. We are in this together, let’s keep our Ballard businesses open by being responsible when it comes to our patrons/customers safety. Stay safe everyone.

    1. shun any business acting irresponsibly – $ loss is the only thing that registers for many owners. i know it must be frightening as a small business owner, but to openly and willing disregard the rules from the state earns you a big middle finger and loss of my business now and always…

      1. At the beginning this is what everyone thought. After all; if a business was unsafe who on earth would go there.

        Well as it turns out there are enough people willing to take the risk. The places that have opened back up are packed with people. The businesses that are implementing lots of restrictions are losing market share. Everyone expected the opposite.

        It seems that far more people value their life than fear their death. Perhaps it is the same reason why rollercoasters are more popular than ferris wheels.

      2. Shut up!
        SHUN groupthink, horrible numbers, bad math. People go from one extreme to another. At first you believe when we’re not supposed to wear the mask. Now you believe we’re all supposed to wear the mask. Is it because government told you? Or is it because you did your own research and homework and you’re weighing the odds based on the information you’ve gathered? No you haven’t you just the poo poo party person who wants to be correct on the side of evil.
        I don’t care about contraction 60% of us will have to get it in order to become an immune Society. No one is dying! Who cares who’s getting it if no one’s dying? Do your research do your homework do the math it might be bad for some people but it is not bad for 99.9% of the population

        1. Bill it is okay to be scared, but when you are you have to remind yourself to keep a level head and focus on what you can do to help. Minimizing the deaths hundreds of thousands is not helping and is actually hurting people.

          If you want some information on the Coronavirus many news organizations are offering free articles about it including The New York Times and The Washington Post

  6. It’s ridiculous to close your business over those findings. Based on the fact that it has a 14 to 20 day incubation. How in the heck do you know you’re the responsible location for Distributing the virus? Bullcrap.
    30% of the entire US population will have the virus by the end of the year. It will be 60% by the time we come up with a vaccine. And then 100% of our population will not get vaccinated the same way they do not get vaccinated for the flu virus now, which to this day kill 75,000 Americans per year.
    Open your business! Start slinging burgers and serving people who aren’t afraid of horrible numbers and ghosts statistics that cannot factually be traceable or trackable to any one person place or thing.

  7. The worldwide pandemic has changed the world and our perception of social and physical environment. Due to the huge number of people who were influenced by the virus, I decided to study at home and my friend recommended finding the cheap research paper writing service as https://studyclerk.com/research-paper-writing in order to improve the overall performance. I hope we will overcome this awful time and it will make us much stronger.

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