A return to COVID-19 restrictions will cost Nova Scotia restaurants millions of dollars and likely will force some to temporarily close, the province’s restaurant association said Monday.
As a result of the physical distancing rules, thousands of bookings will be cancelled and the losses will be “massive,” said Gordon Stewart, president of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, in an interview Monday afternoon.
Food establishments and liquor-licensed establishments must have physical distance between tables and a limit of 20 people per table. Faced with the cost of redoing their interiors to accommodate physical distancing, Stewart said he expects many restaurants will choose to close while the new restrictions are in force.
“When they talk about a perfect storm, here it is, bang, right there,” said Stewart, referring to the loss of holiday bookings, particularly for parties and larger groups. “This is the time when restaurants really need to make money because it’s going to be a long, lean winter for most people overall.”
Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health, said at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing where the bad news was delivered that he hopes the restrictions will be “short-term.”
The rules, which are meant to curb the spread of the highly contagious omicron virus, will come into effect on Friday.
The Omicron COVID-19 variant is in Nova Scotia and cases are higher than we have seen in many months.
— Nova Scotia Gov. (@nsgov) December 13, 2021
We have been here before and we know what to do to limit the spread, but we know it's not easy, especially at this time of year. pic.twitter.com/7z137cF9KW
Restaurants were already facing a tough balance sheet because of the loss of revenue during this year’s shutdowns and previous restrictions, and when they had to pay to make interior renovations to meet changing distancing rules.
Sue Uteck, executive director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association, said her sector, particularly restaurants, is bearing an unfair brunt of COVID-19 restrictions.
“How is an organized sporting event allowed to have 150 people while the restaurants have to do the social distancing?” she said.
“If you went to the game at the Scotiabank (Centre), you can go in clusters of 150, they’re going to have a food area where everyone can gather, but yet appear in a restaurant, it’s going to be right back to the social distancing. I’m a little confused on that.”
Uteck said without continued government support, “you are going to see a whole rash of closures.”
You didn’t just lose a hundred reservations in an hour, meaning staff have lost hours and crucial wages two weeks before Christmas…..
— The Old Triangle (@OldTriangleHFX) December 14, 2021
The new rules also will impose restrictions on such things as nursing home visitations and school activities.
There has been a big spike in COVID-19 activities in schools in recent weeks. Just over the weekend, 17 notices of COVID-19 exposures were sent out, many for schools that had not seen any cases this year.
Stacey Rudderham, a co-chair of the group Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education, said many parents wanted the government to close schools early for the holidays.
While the return to school has been extended by two days to Jan. 6, the holiday break will begin as scheduled on Dec. 22.
“We are hearing from parents that they’re pulling their children out of school early to make sure that they get time to spend time with family, grandparents especially, over the Christmas holidays,” Rudderham said.
