The Butler Chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has opened their food bank Monday after closing for almost a week over coronavirus concerns.

The organization closed their food bank last Tuesday after learning a volunteer's close relative contracted COVID-19 and on Monday the bank was open again after consulting with the state's Department of Health, according to Jerry Harrison, the Butler chapter's president. Harrison said that health officials advised them that enough time had passed between the volunteers contact with their infected relative to reopen.

“There's no rule book for this kind of thing so we weren't sure what to do,” Harrison said. “Enough time had passed since contact with the virus and they didn't see any problem in opening up again.”

Harrison said that operations at the food bank were business as usual.

“It's such an unusual time. we don't know what the exact right thing to do was so we had to call and ask,” Harrison said.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.