Yukon restaurants, bars to take customer contact info to help COVID-19 tracing

If you're going out to eat in Yukon, be prepared to leave your name and number.

As of Monday, restaurants and bars are required to collect customers' contact information in order to help with COVID-19 contact tracing. One person from each party will need to sign in.

Yukon's chief medical officer says this will allow health officials to contact customers directly if there is a COVID-19 exposure.

"A list will mean contact tracers can reach out to contacts more quickly and help to prevent any further transmission," said Yukon Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brendan Hanley in a statement.

There have been several exposure notifications for food establishments over the past month.

Meanwhile, some restaurants have already been tracking customer information.

Tony's Pasta and Seafood House, for instance, had a COVID-19 exposure last month. But owner Sam Taneja said he was able to easily call the relevant customers after keeping a sign-in list.

At Wayfarer Oyster House, manager Kalina Wachter said they decided to keep contact information in September after seeing it done in Vancouver. 

"For me it seemed like common sense," said Wachter, who thinks it should have been mandatory earlier.

"It's no sweat off anybody's back to just leave their name and number," she said. "It's not just about you, it's kind of about everybody."

Tony Dovas, owner of the Drunken Goat Taverna in Dawson City, anticipates some customers will push back against the requirement.

"It's kind of private ... but if it has to be done, we're going to follow the rules," said Dovas. 

 Eric Miller, co-owner of Polarity Brewing in Whitehorse, welcomes the requirement and says it will help contact tracing.

But, he said, "it could be a little bit of a hassle, particularly if there's a bit of a rush going on at the brewery."

Restaurants will be required to keep the information for 30 days. The information will only be provided to the government if there is a COVID-19 exposure at the business.

Taneja said it's important restaurants don't take advantage of people's information for marketing. He said the list should be destroyed after the required 30 days.