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Waiters with colds should stay at home My husband and I went to a local restaurant to have lunch. After my husband gave his order, I asked the waitress if she had a cold. "Yes," she replied, while trying to hold back a cough. She proceeded to take my order and hurriedly left our table. Needless to say, I was very uncomfortable with the situation and felt that the waitress should not have been working under those circumstances. Isn't there some law in Oregon that addresses waiters and waitresses working with obvious colds? -- Leila E., Medford Yes and no. People who work with food are supposed to stay home if they have a bacterial infection that could be passed on directly through contact with food, according to Gary Stevens, who oversees restaurants for the county health department. A cold virus may or may not meet that standard. If food workers have clear symptoms of an acute respiratory infection such as a fever, they should clearly stay home. But Stevens says a firm line can be hard to draw. "That's hard to discern," he says. "For most upper respiratory diseases, being transmitted through food is probably a rare occurrence." It's more common for respiratory diseases like colds to be passed person to person through the air. While law doesn't require people with colds to stay home, Stevens says it's a good idea for the sake of both customers and co-workers who could be infected. "When asked, we would always advise them to keep off work," he says. If you are concerned as a consumer, you should take it up with the restaurant's management first. If that doesn't resolve the issue, you can contact the health department. (Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541) 776-4376; or by e-mail to: [email protected] . Please include your name, address and phone number for verification.) Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA