Events cancelled, restaurants brace for restrictions following omicron discovery in P.E.I.

People all across P.E.I. are having to quickly adjust their plans now that new COVID-19 restrictions are coming into effect Friday.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison announced the new measures on Tuesday following the discovery of the omicron variant in the province.

The restrictions include a personal gathering limit of 20 people, a temporary ban on all sports tournaments, and a 20 people per table limit as well as more stringent masking measures at eating establishments.

Following the announcement, Birchwood Intermediate School decided to cancel its in-person Christmas concert. The concert was slated for Wednesday night.

Instead, the school filmed the students' performances and will be posting them online so that friends and family can watch.

Band teacher Brian Langille said that even though the restrictions would have come into effect after the concert, the school did not feel comfortable going through with the event.

"We thought it was our responsibility to just do what we thought was right," Langille said. 

"Since all the new restrictions yesterday, we thought 'that could change tomorrow as well.' So we wanted the children to be able to play their music that they practised for the last six weeks, and make sure that that got done."

Langille said it's the children who probably feel most frustrated about the cancellation.

"They were jazzed. They were ready to go, and they were really disappointed. But hopefully in the spring we'll have a big gala at the school and a lot of music then," he said.

"Music's about sharing with other people, and having people in the audience enjoying it."

Sporting events cancelled

Also cancelled is Charlottetown Minor Hockey Association's George Trainor Holiday Classic, which was scheduled to happen at the end of December.

Seventy-one A-level teams across the Island had signed up to participate in the tournament before the new restrictions were announced.

It is the second time the tournament had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.

"We were really excited to getting it back going and there was a lot of work doing the scheduling, the schedule was all done up, we had sponsors — all the stuff we do to organize tournaments," said Keith Ford, president of the association.

"It's the kids that I'm disappointed for, you know. They look forward to it. [For the A-level kids] this is their big tournament and I know they look forward to it. It's the Christmas holidays, you know. Parents around, grandparents around, and now nothing."

Ford said the association is now working on refunding the teams, and hoping next year things are different.

"I know you always say next year, but the kids are going to be disappointed. This is the year they're looking forward to it, and it's gone."

Restaurants expect Christmas impact

Restaurants looking forward to a busy Christmas week are now left facing some uncertainty.

Cedar's Eatery owner Ryan Abdallah said things were starting to look somewhat normal before the measures were announced. 

He said the new restrictions will definitely have an impact on business.

"Every time there's an announcement or there's a pullback by the Chief Public Health Office, there is a bit of a lull," Abdallah said. "But I mean, people just need to find that balance again and they get their courage back."

But Abdallah said he remains hopeful the business will be able to put things behind them shortly.

"The restrictions aren't as tight as some people thought they might when they were announced, which is great. But I guess same as anything, we're going to have to see day by day and see how things go." he said. 

"It wears on us, it wears on the staff, it wears on the patrons when they come in here and even takes away from their experience, but that's life. We do the best we can do, enhance cleaning as much as we can, and just try to keep our distance and do what we can."