Owner: ‘Our spa is the safest in Bermuda now’

 The owner of the spa at the centre of an MRSA outbreak has assured the public his establishment has been thoroughly cleaned and is open for business.  

Juan Smith, owner of Tai Home Spa, told the Bermuda Sun that the Pembroke premises had been given the all clear by the Health Department.

The spa has also agreed to reimburse any clients who were victims of the outbreak for the cost of their treatment.

Mr Smith said: “Our spa is perhaps the safest spa in Bermuda now and we will continue to raise the bar in services and facility management.

“We cleaned every surface and bottle and washed all of the linen and beds. 

“We broke the entire facility down and cleaned everything. After that, we cleaned everything again with the disinfectant to be 100 percent certain we had eliminated the virus.”

Tai Home Spa has been linked to at least 20 cases of MRSA from August and September.

Yesterday Mr Smith revealed the spa had implemented a new preventative maintenance programme and staff would be required to take quarterly tests for the MRSA virus.

He said that the infected staff member was still in quarantine.

Mr Smith added: “We want to apologise to all of our customers for this episode and to thank all of the people who have reached out to us to offer support. We also want to offer our sympathy to other spas who may have been affected by the Government’s policy of not disclosing our name and we regret some of the comments that have been made in social media. 

“We want them to know that our facility is 100 per cent free of the MRSA virus and we now have a regular preventative maintenance programme in place which will see in addition to daily spa cleaning every bathroom cleaned with
the anti-MRSA virus disinfectant once a week and every treatment room thorough disinfectant once a month.” 

A statement released by the Department of Health confirmed that the spa had been given the all-clear.

It added: “The spa management was entirely helpful at facilitating the testing of employees once the spa was suspected to be the point source of the outbreak. 

“They allowed staff from the Department of Health immediate access to their premises upon request and without hesitation, acting in the public’s best interest. 

“The spa manager made himself available for interview and was fully transparent and cooperative, as well as being forthcoming with any information that was requested of him.

“The spa provided a list of clients, which the Department of Health utilized to carry out vital contact tracing to prevent a secondary spread of the infection in the community. 

“To date there is no evidence of ongoing/secondary transmission from those linked to the spa.”