Hudson Yards’s Peak Restaurant Told Staffers Not to Tell Diners About a Positive Coronavirus Case at Nearby Edge Observatory | Eater NY

"Perched on the 101st floor of a Hudson Yards building, I found Peak to be a splashy, upscale American restaurant run by UK-based hospitality group Rhubarb that controversially stayed open in mid-March even after an employee of the adjacent Edge observatory tested positive for COVID-19. Managers were reportedly instructed to tell diners only that Edge had closed under a city mandate banning large crowds, and staff who felt well continued to report for shifts until the restaurant ultimately shuttered on March 16 when dine-in service was banned. Peak operates a Champagne bar that also served as a concession for Edge; the company says the infected Edge employee never entered the restaurant and that the dining room underwent a deep clean before opening on March 13, though that extra-cleaning detail was not mentioned in the internal email instructing staff and was allegedly relayed only verbally at pre-meal meetings. A former employee disputes the idea that the two operations were separate, saying staff share back-of-house spaces and surfaces, and the episode has led to investigations and layoffs of hourly and most management staff." - Erika Adams