Bar owner says Sudbury district's tougher COVID-19 measures 'a good thing' but painful for business

A restaurant owner in Greater Sudbury says the last two years have been the most difficult of his career, but he still welcomes the new, stricter public health measures that started Wednesday to curb COVID-19 infections in the city.

"I think it's a good thing, because obviously we want to get rid of this pandemic," said Maurice Theoret, owner of Trevi Bar and Grill on Lasalle Boulevard. "But having said that, it's not a good thing for revenue for businesses, because we now have more restrictions to take less people in our establishments."

On Tuesday, Ontario reported 441 new cases and its highest provincewide test positivity rate since mid-September.

Greater Sudbury has now become a COVID-19 hot spot, so reverted to Ontario's previous requirements around capacity limits for businesses, indoor masking and social distancing requirements, effective at 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Theoret said he might have to cancel some reservations that guests have made for holiday parties.

But he added he was not angry with the health unit for imposing the rules, and wants to get the pandemic "out of the way."

Concerning spike in cases

Alain Simard, an immunologist and associate professor with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), said the spike of Greater Sudbury cases has been concerning.

"It means that the virus is kind of like loosely going around the community, and we don't have a good handle on it."

Simard said he supports the health unit's new measures, but wanted to see more messaging around social bubbles.

"We're always focused on these large social gatherings, sporting events and restaurants, but we should have stronger messaging on what people should be doing at home and how many other people should they be socializing with."

Simard said the reinstated restrictions could have been imposed earlier, when it was already clear Sudbury was becoming a hot spot.

As for why Sudbury has seen its numbers balloon, he said it could be due in part to some larger outbreaks at the Sudbury Jail and Memorial Park, for instance.

But he added many cases don't have a known cause.

"I think that the definition of normal is going to have to be revisited, because we're probably going to live with this virus for a very long time."

COVID-19 cases rising in Algoma

In the meantime, neighbouring communities are keeping a close eye on the situation in Sudbury.

As of Tuesday, Algoma Public Health reported 68 active cases, a record number for the area.

"We do tend to notice that our cases follow very similar trends to Sudbury," said Dr. John Tuinema, Algoma Public Health's acting associate medical officer of health.

He wasn't ruling out some spillover from Sudbury, but added there are other factors that may have led to the increase in local COVID-19 cases.

"We are at the least amount of restrictions that we have ever had since the start of the pandemic, so that leads to more contact. With people seeing each other more and being closer to each other physically, that's led to more transmission."

As the weather gets colder, Tuinema said, it also means people are spending more time indoors with the windows closed, and therefore less ventilation, which promotes spread of the virus.

Stricter measures 'on the table'

Tuinema said Algoma Public Health hasn't ruled out bringing back stricter prevention measures, following Sudbury's lead, if their local situation worsens.

"It's certainly on the table," he said. "We hope that we don't have to do that, but we will have to continue to watch the situation."

As of Tuesday, 86 per cent of people eligible for the vaccine in the district had two doses. Tuinema said 89 per cent of eligible people had at least one dose.