East Lyme — Two restaurants here, Flanders Fish Market and Smokey O’Grady’s, have both announced temporary closures, after a worker at each establishment tested positive for COVID-19.

Both plan to reopen Friday.

Flanders Fish Market posted on Facebook and its website Monday that a staff member, who last worked at the restaurant on Oct. 3, tested positive.

“While they may not have been positive at that time, we are closing out of an abundance of caution in order to allow time for proper testing for our staff + deep sanitation treatment,” the post stated. The restaurant said it plans to reopen Friday when it can ensure that all staff in the building have tested negative, adding the health and safety of its staff and community is its top priority.

Ali Formica Coleman, director of operations for the Chesterfield Road fish market, said that it's important to share information to be transparent and maintain community trust.

She said the infected employee is a part-time worker who helps out during busy times, about one or two days a week at most. Due to privacy reasons, she did not describe what job the person performed, but confirmed it was not a server.

Coleman said Flanders Fish Market was notified Sunday evening of the positive test result. The person did not have any symptoms when last working at the restaurant.

The staff member, though experiencing no symptoms, got tested last Thursday and quarantined, after learning that someone in their personal contacts had tested positive, she said. The staff member only recently started exhibiting mild symptoms.

She said the restaurant has been taking safety precautions, including mask and glove wearing and sanitizing. State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, the restaurant owner, said the temporary closure will provide time to clean and for employees to get tested.

Smokey O’Grady’s, located at 308 Flanders Road, also is closed until Friday, said owner Scott O’Reilly.

“As all of you probably know, COVID numbers are rising in East Lyme,” the restaurant posted Oct. 8 on Facebook. “Although we have taken every possible precaution, an employee of Smokey's has contracted the virus and we will be closed until further notice. It is important that we follow all of the CDC guidelines — business wise and personally — to ensure public safety and to open our doors as soon as we can. In the mean time, we will be quarantining and the bar will be deeply cleaned by COVID professionals. Stay safe!”

After being informed on the evening of Oct. 6 that a customer tested positive for COVID-19, Smokey O’Grady’s closed and hired a company to do a certified COVID-19 cleaning, said O’Reilly. In the meantime, all employees were directed to get tested. That testing revealed that one employee was positive for the virus.

He said as a result of a positive test result, Smokey O'Grady's is closed for 10 days, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines: “Our customers’ and employees’ health are of the utmost importance to us.”

He said he could not confirm the employee's position for privacy reasons.

Ledge Light Health District Director Stephen Mansfield said both restaurants closed voluntarily, not due to any regulatory action.

Once notified of a positive COVID-19 case, the health district does contact tracing to reach close contacts and have them self-quarantine for two weeks from the date of last exposure, he said. If there’s a question about close contacts, whether it’s a restaurant or another business, Ledge Light will interview the appropriate people to identify contacts.

He said Ledge Light is not seeing a significant number of cases associated with restaurants, long-term care facilities or institutions; in general, the transmission is community based.

He said while Ledge Light is not seeing any one reason for the uptick in cases, most information from contact tracing indicates that social gatherings among friends or family are the primary method of transmission.

Day Staff Writer Greg Smith contributed to this report.

k.drelich@theday.com