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.