Businesses adjust to new normal of Stage 3, while Caesars Windsor waits to reopen

Co-owner of Toast, May Hermiz, began offering indoor dining services for the first time since March on Wednesday when the region finally entered Stage 3. 

Windsor-Essex was the last region in the province to be approved for Stage 3 due to its high COVID-19 case count. But on Monday, Ontario Premier gave the region the green light — allowing indoor dining and gyms to be re-introduced to the area, among other things.

"It's a new way of living, I mean all this is new to everyone," Hermiz said. "It's definitely taken a toll on us emotionally and to our business but ... we're going to get back in there, just make sure that we're doing our job right and everyone is safe and healthy." 

Hermiz is one of many business owners in the region opening their doors for the first time in months. 

Gyms, like True Life Fitness in Windsor, were also able to reopen. 

Luis Mendez, owner of True Life Fitness, said it's been a long five-month struggle and that he needed to apply for government loans to stay afloat. 

"We've been eagerly and patiently waiting for the last four to six weeks thinking that 'okay next week will be the week,' 'okay the premier's going to announce today that we're going to be able to open in the next few days,'" he said.

"Today definitely feels like Christmas Day for me and being able to open our facilities back for our members." 

Mendez said they have implemented a number of safety measures including spacing machines six feet a part, adding hand sanitizer and placing arrows on the gym floor to keep people moving in one direction. 

But, not all are ready to reopen, CBC News spoke with a few businesses owners who said they prefer to continue offering patio dining only for the next few weeks to see how Stage 3 goes. 

Caesars unclear on reopening date

Caesars Windsor casino is one facility that won't be reopening, even though it could as long as it maintains a 50-person limit inside the entire facility and adheres to physical distancing safety precautions. 

Director of advertising Scott Jenkins said in an email to CBC News that the casino still does not have a reopening date. 

"At this time, we are working on finalizing our reopening plans and securing the appropriate approvals from medical and government authorities. Our plans have been developed to support a larger volume of guests, that we are hopeful will be approved and we are able to open shortly in a manner in which it is feasible for us to do so," Jenkins said. 

On Wednesday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens issued a mandatory mask order effective Aug. 19 that requires people to wear face coverings in all public spaces. 

This order goes beyond the Windsor Essex County Health Unit's, which enforced mask wearing for all businesses. Dilkens now wants people wearing masks in places like community centres, entertainment venues and common spaces in apartment buildings. 

Health unit says COVID-19 on farms is under control 

The high number of cases in Windsor-Essex's agri-farm workers held the region back from moving into Stage 3 earlier, but in the last week medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said issues pertaining to farm workers and COVID-19 appear to be under control. 

For the most part, United Food and Commercial Workers Canada national representative Santiago Escobar said he agrees that the situation is under control based on what he's heard from workers on the ground. 

Escobar said he speaks with workers regularly and has heard they are getting the personal protective equipment that they need. 

But, he added, testing still seems to be an issue. 

"The problem is some employers doesn't want to test their workforce because if these workers tested positive, means that they have to slow down the operation, productivity and in some cases shut down their operations and I think this is wrong," he said. 

Ontario Health told CBC News that as of Tuesday, 55 of Windsor-Essex`s 176 farms have been tested. Of those, 38 farms had on-site swabbing and 17 used the assessment centres.