The Cook Who Called In Sick at 5:40 a.m.

No. He is excluded - not restricted - from the food establishment. Vomiting and diarrhea are the classic symptoms of the agents on the Food Code's 'Big Six' list, and norovirus is by far the most likely cause in a food handler.

Why gloves are irrelevant to this decision:

• Gloves do not contain a symptomatic food handler. He would still be contaminating the bathroom, door handles, walk-in latch, prep surfaces, and his own apron.
• Norovirus has an extremely low infectious dose (on the order of a few dozen viral particles) and survives on surfaces for days.
• Exclusion is the control; gloves are a barrier for a different hazard (hand-to-RTE-food contact by a well employee).

Required actions by the CFPM:

1. Tell him not to report to work. Document the notification.
2. Because he is an employee with vomiting/diarrhea, he must report it, and the person in charge must restrict/exclude accordingly. This is a mandatory reporting obligation on the employee and a mandatory action on the manager.
3. Return-to-work: he may not return until he has been free of vomiting and diarrhea for the required period - at least 24 hours under the current FDA Food Code, and 48 hours in jurisdictions still operating under earlier editions. The local code governs; confirm it rather than guessing. If he is diagnosed with norovirus, hepatitis A, Shigella, Salmonella Typhi, or E. coli O157:H7, additional restrictions and health-department approval apply.
4. If the medical provider or lab identifies one of the Big Six, notify the regulatory authority as required locally.

The exposure is real and significant. He handled ready-to-eat bread, lettuce, and turkey with bare hands for up to 11 hours, and he was likely shedding virus before symptoms began (viral shedding peaks around onset and can precede it). Norovirus incubation is roughly 12–48 hours, so illnesses would be expected Saturday night through Monday.

Sandwiches:

• Any of Friday's sandwiches still on hand - held, wrapped, or scheduled for reuse - must be discarded. Norovirus is not inactivated by refrigeration, and the product was bare-hand contacted. There is no reliable way to salvage it; washing lettuce does not remove virus from a contaminated sandwich.
• Product already served cannot be recalled, but it is a documented exposure.

Kitchen:

• Clean and then sanitize all food-contact surfaces he could have touched: prep tables, cutting boards, deli slicer, knife handles, reach-in handles, walk-in latch, carts, thermometer probes.
• Use an EPA-registered product with a norovirus claim, or chlorine at the concentration and contact time on the label. Follow the label contact time - a quick wipe is not sanitizing.
• Discard single-service items he may have handled bare-handed.

Staff and prevention:

• Brief the whole crew on symptom reporting and on the no bare-hand contact rule for RTE food: use deli tissue, utensils, or gloves, and restock glove stations - an empty glove box is a management failure, not an employee excuse.
• Actively survey staff for symptoms for the next 72 hours. Two or more linked cases is an outbreak signal: contact the local health department and expect an investigation.
• Review the operation's written employee health policy - this situation is exactly the scenario it exists for.

Restrict, do not exclude. 'Sore throat with fever' is a restriction trigger under the Food Code, not an exclusion trigger.

What restriction means here:

• She may stay on the schedule but must not work with exposed food, clean equipment, utensils, or linens, or unpackaged single-service articles.
• Legal duties for the shift: hosting, seating, taking orders, running payment, bussing and wiping down dirty tables (with proper handwashing after), restocking, or other non-food-contact tasks.
• She must be referred to a health care provider. If the diagnosis turns out to be an infection with nontyphoidal Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli O157:H7, or she develops vomiting or diarrhea, the restriction converts to an exclusion and the return-to-work rules apply.

Why not just exclude everyone with a symptom:

• An unnecessary exclusion still costs a shift, but the bigger practical risk is the opposite - managers who exclude aggressively get employees who hide symptoms, which is far worse. The correct answer is to apply the exclusion/restriction table precisely and document it.
• Note the contrast with the cook: vomiting/diarrhea = exclude; sore throat with fever = restrict. That distinction is the point being tested.