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B.C.’s top doc tightens rules at restaurants, nightclubs as COVID-19 cases increase

The amended order includes a ban on self-serve liquor lines and puts stop to dance floors
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A server wears a face mask while cleaning a table on the patio at an Earls restaurant, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

As B.C. sees a surge in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, the province’s top doctor is amending the health order for bars and nightclubs, as well as events.

The changes include banning liquor self-service, as well as dance floors, and minimizing “table hopping” inside restaurants and similar establishments, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Wednesday (July 22).

More details will be posted as an updated provincial health order within the next few hours.

“The COVID-19 curve is trending in a way we do not want it to go, which is up,” Henry said.

“There are close to 1,000 British Columbians self-isolating at home. This means people are unable to work, see friends, enjoy the summer.”

ALSO READ: B.C. records 34 new COVID-19 cases as province nears 200 test-positives within a week

The amendment comes as the province sees two weeks of increasing test-positive cases. British Columbians have been in Phase Three of the provincial government’s reopening plan for nearly four weeks.

The association that represents food services and restaurants in B.C. is calling on business owners to follow the regulations.

“We have to accept responsibility as an industry because we should understand what the protocols are,” B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association CEO Ian Totsenson told Black Press Media.

Other changes to rules include that restaurant owners will need to reduce lineups and minimize crowds in choke points in and out of the establishment.

Henry urged customers to not put servers in positions where they feel pressured to change the rules – specifically when it comes to the six-guest cap at tables.

Tostenson said locking down the current rules will help ensure everyone is abiding by them.

“I think it continues to help people become confident. It demonstrates there is a very high commitment by the restaurant industry, and by and large, the industry is doing a very good job of being disciplined.”


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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