Restaurant group working to end hepatitis stigma in food service industry

The hepatitis A outbreak sweeping the region has affected thousands of patients, but perhaps the largest impact has been on the restaurant industry itself.

Dozens of food service workers in the Tri-State have been diagnosed with the virus this year -- each one taking a toll on the food business. So much so, once thriving restaurants are now struggling.

"Their business has been adversely affected," said Mike Kirtner.

Kirtner is a PR specialist who is helping a group of local restaurants launch an online campaign under the name Tri-State Restaurant Association. Their main goal is to end the stigma that the restaurants themselves are dirty and unhealthy after a food service worker is diagnosed.

"Every story you see says it's safe to eat out," Kirtner said. "You are not particularly at risk. However that was down in the story and as Americans, we don't always read real deep into the story. All we did was take that and put it at the top of the story, and just reassure everybody that they were OK."

The group says they've been put in an unfair position because cases in food service workers are the only ones that are publicized because of the public health risk it does pose. In Boyd County, Kentucky, only 11 of the 134 cases have been food service workers, and no case has been directly linked to restaurants.

Kirtner says he got involved after sitting in on a meeting with restaurant managers about what to do with the outbreak.

"I was listening to these people and they were hoping this was just going to go away and it's not going away," he said. "There's a problem here."

It's a problem affecting business so much that there's a concern for the livelihoods of workers, especially servers who depend on customers and their tips.

"The restaurant group, they're not hiring right now because sales have dropped ... some restaurants have laid people off to ensure profitability."

The group plans to use their platform to also share standards and practices they follow when it comes to cleanliness and health, so customers can see changes they've made.

"They have absolutely come together to work and reassure the public," Kirtner said.