The BC Provincial Health Officer has posted a new health order that permits the reopening of restaurants, certain liquor primaries and manufacturer tasting rooms, all effective Tuesday May 19th, with restrictions on operations and capacity. Note that most bars/nightclubs that do not offer meal service must remain closed.
In addition, an order posted yesterday requires that all BC employers (i.e. all businesses with staff) also must create and post (including on your web site) a COVID19 workplace safety plan. See the Worksafe BC site for details on this.
The original order contained some differences between the restrictions applicable to different categories but that order has now been revised to create consistency. For the most part, the significant restrictions contained in the reopening order now include:
- Must create 2 metre separation between patrons who are not in the same party.
- Maximum 6 customers per table.
- Maximum 50% of usual capacity.
- No events at establishment that include more than 50 people (I read this as per event, not as an overall capacity maximum).
- If practical, maintain contact info of patrons for contact tracing purposes.
Please read the order for full details. There is no expiry date on the order and it is not effective until May 19th so reopening cannot occur until then.
Article Updated May 21st to reflect revised and reissued health order.