Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

COVID-19

Kamloops businesses take careful approach to reopening

May 19, 2020 | 4:54 PM

KAMLOOPS — The sleepy streets of Kamloops are beginning to wake up as the province enters Phase Two of its Restart Plan.

For Cindy Proznik at the Plaza Barber Shop, her first day back to work has been a busy one.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “I knew it was going to be busy, but I didn’t expect it to be like this. It’s just line ups, line ups, line ups. I’m just going crazy.”

Only three customers are allowed into the small barber shop at one time, while others have to wait outside.

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Constant cleaning has slowed the pace at which Proznick can work.

“I’m telling everyone, ‘you just have to be patient,'” she said. “There are lots of things we have to do now that wasn’t required prior to, like sterilizing everything after every customer.”

Restaurants and pubs are also allowed to open their doors as of today (May 19).

“It was a rude awakening when we shut down on (March) 17th and there was no dollars coming in, yet the bills kept flowing in fast and furiously,” said Al Deacon, owner of Fox’n Hounds Pub and the Sahali Liquor Store. “Without the liquor store I don’t know what would have happened.”

Deacon has decided to keep the pub closed for at least another week.

“We’ve decided to take things slow,” he said. “We want to make sure that we do everything right as spelled out by the Provincial Health Officer as well as WorkSafe BC. We don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse. We’re going to take our time, and I think we’re going to open up a week tomorrow.”

Ahead of the reopening some tables will be removed and arranged in a way to provide as much distance as possible.

“We have a large license. We’re 180 seats, so we can fit in 90 people easily,” Deacon said. “We’ve mapped things out where we’re going to be able to fit in 70 people. So, 70 plus our staff of three in the kitchen, four on the floor, that’ll probably max out at where we’re supposed to be.”

Some gyms have also decided to open up slowly, like the Kamloops YMCA.

“Most likely we’ll end up with some kind of a phased reopening of Y services that will happen over a period of time,” said CEO Colin Reid. “Exactly when that will take place, we don’t have a date as of today.”

The YMCA could face some operational challenges since it relies on a high number of users in order to keep operating.

“All the early indicators are in the fitness facilities side of things the uptake is somewhere between 10-20 per cent of previous volume,” Reid said. “So how do you operate these facilities that are designed to have high volume of use on 10-20 per cent uptake?”

It’s a challenge that many Kamloops businesses could face as they return to operations, even as COVID-19 continues its spread.