Hope and a whole lot of questions — northern business owners prepare to re-open

Premier Doug Ford laid out what it will take to reopen different parts of the province Thursday afternoon. 

Outdoor activities like basketball, golf and tennis will be allowed as of this Saturday along with outdoor gatherings of up to five people. A wider reopening is pegged to what percent of adults have been vaccinated, as well as health indicators like declining hospitalization, ICU and case rates.

For example, the province will allow outdoor gatherings for up to 10 people, outdoor dining with four people per table, day camps and campsites when 60 per cent of adults have one dose, along with other health indicators.

It expects that to happen around mid-June.

Hairdressers, water parks, amusement parks, indoor dining and most indoor attractions will have to wait until summer, when more people are vaccinated, some fully.

What do northern Ontario businesses make of the province's newly released reopening plan?

Michelle Munro, owner of Round Two Fitness in Sudbury and Linda Loranger, owner of Didas restaurant in Earlton spoke with Up North CBC host Jonathan Pinto on Thursday.

Loranger says she's grateful they'll be able to open up their patio and start serving customers that "are dying to come in to eat."

"But it's also challenging, because not knowing exactly when the dates are, it's really hard to retain staff and hire staff. There is also going to be another step into ... health unit requirements for these four people to come and sit at a table. There's always the masking, the sanitizing, the extra work that goes around to serving one table of four."

On the restaurant's patio, Loranger says she was able to accommodate 20 people, with physical-distancing guidelines in place. When she was allowed indoor dining, the restaurant capacity was chopped from 34 to 14 to allow for physical distancing.

"It really cuts down on your on your capacities," she said.

Blanket approach 'seems unfair'

Munro says she will be able to have outdoor classes with 10 people, but the continued restrictions are pushing her to reconsider how she handles her business.

"Either you work twice as hard for the same amount of money, or you have to figure out how to reduce capacity. And my focus has been on membership retention, not kicking people out. So it makes it very difficult for sure."

Munro says she's not a fan of the blanket-approach to re-opening the province.

"It just seems quite unfair to areas that will potentially be doing much better, or be ready for fully reopening before other areas, to punish us all," she said.

"The colour-code system was good, it just lacked enforcement — and that's on the government for not implementing proper enforcement. So it's sad for those areas that will be ready before some of the more populated areas [can] be fully reopened."

Loranger says she happy to just be able to start opening, and it gives her hope for fall and winter.

"But in the meantime, there's no clarification exactly when or how and stuff. And it seems like northern Ontario is always suffering for the big numbers down south," she said.

"So it just makes it more frustrating for us small businesses to try to keep going. And I'm sure it's as frustrating for them as small business owners in Toronto. But the population is different."

Loranger says she has many questions. 

"As a business owner with the restaurant, are we supposed to ask [patrons'] to identity and ask them if they have their vaccine? Like how are we going to manage all this?"

'Survivors'

While the pandemic has been tough on their businesses, both Loranger and Munro say they are determined to see things through.

"Because of all of the pivoting that I've done and and increasing online clientele, I'm maintaining my business," Munro said.

"I think people's general comfort level with large crowds may never return to what was normal before COVID, which is going to require some adjustments in operations and pricing. There'll be a lot of changes, I think, coming out of this on the other side."

Loranger says the folks at her restaurant are "survivors."

"I put my heart and soul in my little restaurant. I'll keep doing it as much as some days where COVID fatigue or we're frustrated with the government because we're not sure which shoes to wear that day," she said.

"But overall, I think the important thing is we all stay safe, we get out of this pandemic and we sort of go back to somewhat normal. It'll never be the way it was."

Sudbury stylist loses loved one to COVID

While outdoor dining might be possible by mid-June in Step One of the plan, personal care services can't reopen until Step Two — about five weeks away if all goes well.

Hair stylists have been clamouring to be allowed to do business earlier than that, including Deb Brouse, co-owner of Platinum Studios in Sudbury.

It's awful when it hits home, it becomes way more real.- Deb Brouse, stylist in Sudbury

She says she would have liked to see a regional re-opening, but the recent loss of a loved one has tempered her outlook.

"I lost somebody this week due to COVID, somebody very near and dear to me passed away on Monday," she said.

"It's actually given me a little bit of perspective as to, yes, more people need to be vaccinated. It's awful when it hits home, it becomes way more real."

Brouse says once she's fully vaccinated in July, she will feel a lot safer going back to work.

"We're basically in [our clients'] space for most of the appointment."

She says its "a hard call" to make around which businesses will ultimately survive the pandemic.

"Not everybody has tons of money in the bank to float yourself ... So I guess we'll just have to see," Brouse said.

"The last time we opened for the one month, I had 78 clients to call back, plus move everything that was cancelled for Christmas. So it's not like we have to rebuild our business right from the ground up again. We're very fortunate that way. We have a loyal client base and, as soon as we open our doors again, it's going to be very busy."