CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – An employee at the Golly G’s Coffee, Ice Cream and Sweets in Sango tested positive for COVID-19 last week, causing the popular local ice cream parlor and bakery to close for several days.

The owner Joey Boykin, immediately closed the Sango Golly G’s  once he was notified about the employee. He said the health of his staff, customers and the community was his top priority as he had to make several business decisions quickly.

“When we found out we immediately made the decision to close the store. We found out at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and we were closed by 3 p.m.- within an hour -we had it closed,” Boykin said. “We hired a professional company to come in and fumigate with a  food-grade disinfectant. Then they came back and wiped everything down.”

Boykin said all of their employees that had any contact within the time frame suggested by the CDC were notified.  The person who was infected was kept confidential. 

“We let them know they’d worked around someone who’d tested positive and suggested they get tested within a 72-hour period,” he said. 

Approximately 12 staff members were notified and had to be tested and quarantined pending results. Results have taken between 5-10 days and so far some results have come back.

“It’s  been a challenge. Our employees are like family. We got notification it happened and it was a scary moment. We wanted to be transparent through the whole thing,” Boykin said. “We owed it to the community who’s supported us and blessed us. During this COVID-19 experience, the Clarksville community and all the communities have been such a blessing. We had to treat them with full transparency and respect. That’s how I view business.”

Golly G’s posted to their official Facebook page and updated it through the week to keep customers abreast of the situation. With majority of the staff out, Golly G’s Sango reopened on Friday June 25, with a limited menu and running through their drive-through only.

“This is our busiest time of the year. It’s created a big challenge,” Boykin said. “But as of today, we started getting some negative results back. We’ve been able to clear four or five employees. Over the next week we can work them back in the schedule and open back to some normalcy by the end of the week as long as we get those individuals cleared by the health department…. COVID-19 is a reality we have to live with and try to minimize those risks. All of our employees wear masks and we follow the state guidelines for restaurant.”

Boykin said running his business with the Golden Rule has helped everyone work through this difficult time.

“We have the philosophy of treating our community how we want to be treated. When this hit us we should’ve been prepared, and it’s a probability it will happen in every workplace,” Boykin said. “We just had to make decisions for us, employees and our customers. The outpouring of support for that has been amazing, It was the right thing to do.”

The employee who tested positive for COVID-19 is healing well.