The owner of the Blue Grotto nightclub in downtown Kamloops would like to see a more regional approach taken after public health officials announced that night clubs would have to close.
It’s as about 2% of all new COVID-19 cases across all of British Columbia are identified in the Interior Health Authority.
Pup Johnston says he was contacting staff about bringing them back and reaching out to bands to come and play at the venue and everyone was excited to get back at it.
“It was so good and then that news came at 3:00 and it was just like popping a kids balloon. It was bad.”
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says health officials have worked with the industry to try and make things safe, but she says it was becoming too hard to contact trace. “By the nature of the environment, the type of entertainment and the things that people go to a nightclub to do, it is an inherently risky thing. It’s not unique to us here in B.C., we’ve seen it in Quebec and in Ontario now. We’ve seen it in places like Korea where they had things very much under control and there was extensive outbreaks related to transmissions in nightclubs.”
“I know its challenging for the industry but they are just not safe environments right now, and it has taken up a huge amount of public health resources to try and track people, and we know that that is why some of this transmissions has happened around the province and in other places.”
Johnston says he spent somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000 completing renovations.
“We started the process about a month and a half ago when we realized that the floors were a little rough and hard to clean. So we started with by refinishing all the floors…. then we tried to sort of patiently out wait the virus to see if it was going to go away and after six months of waiting it was obvious that we were gong to have to take the appropriate measures from WorkSafe BC and the Health Authority. So we bought plexiglass and some wooden fence panel and we started cutting and putting things together. It took us probably a week with my son and a lot of my staff and everyone kind of pitched in and helped out. We set up 12 individual cubicles for groups of six to fit in.”
“Completely self-contained cubicles that you can fit in and socialize with your friends. Absolutely no risk whatsoever of coming into contact with someone else unless you leave that bubble.”
“We had the protocol if you leave the bubble, put a mask on, there’s hand sanitizer throughout the bar, no bar service waitress service only. Masks provided to people at the door. We felt that we went above and beyond.”
Johnston says the announcement on Tuesday was like the proverbial ice cream cone falling in the sand and he is asking people to write letters. “Wear a mask and write lots of letters and just say ‘hey,why are we here in Kamloops considered in the same demographic as the lower mainland three-and-a-half hours away. And why our 90,000 going up against three or four million people?’ It is just not right.”
Finance Minister Carole James says businesses have been hit particularly hard in the hospitality sector.
“You see that in the results that have come forward from Stats Can as well around employment numbers. So we will be looking, and we are looking, at all sectors including the hospitality sector as part of the economic recovery plan. That will be coming forward shortly. But, when it comes to differences across regions, I think you’ve heard both [Health] Minister [Adrian] Dix and Dr Bonnie Henry talk about the importance of consistency across the province and again we will be following those public health orders.”
Johnston says the Blue Grotto isn’t done and he will do his best to get through this difficult time. “I’m not done yet. I am going to start an extensive letter writing campaign. Our MP’s, our MLA’s our premier. Although they answer my letters they haven’t had any answers and now I’m going to start demanding answers from them.”
He adds that he hasn’t not been getting any rent relief at all. He is frustrated that landlords have access to the CECRA program. “If the landlords don’t do it then they don’t have to give rent relief to anybody. It’s a catch-22.”
