The owner of the Blue Grotto nightclub in Kamloops says he’s picking public safety over profits as the nightclub is temporarily closed after 18 people tested positive for COVID-19 after a concert there last Thursday, Oct. 14.

Pup Johnston says another six people have told him they have tested negative for the virus.

When asked how things got as bad as it has, Pup Johnston told NL News he did not want to speculate. He says the most important thing is how the situation is handled from here.

“It really would only take one person coming in [with the virus] and we’re really actually quite shocked that there could be that many transmissions out of a 50 person event that really only lasted three hours,” he told NL News. “Even people that I’ve talked to at Interior Health just go, ‘yeah, that is kind of strange that there’d be that many cases.'”

“You know 50 people, that could have been a house gathering but it does happen.”

In all, Johnston says there were about 71 people present that evening for the concert by Belvedere which also featured the bands Blacked Out and Let’s Go. He estimates there were about 51 guests, six staff, and about 14 band members. That’s under the 89 people the Grotto is able to accommodate with COVID-19 capacity restrictions in place.

“Basically the three bands went on, they all did about 40 to 60 minutes of music and they weren’t all on stage all the same time,” Johnston said.

“Between the green room, the stage and the merch table, that was really all where they were. Is is possible they brought it in, yes it is, it is possible anyone did so I don’t feel comfortable speculating on that.”

While everyone at the Oct. 14 show was vaccinated, Johnston says he knew there was always a chance that nightclubs could lead to the spread of COVID-19. But he adds that is why they have stringent safety measures in place to try and mitigate the risk as much as possible.

“We didn’t want this to happen but we knew in our heart of heart that we were probably weren’t going to get through these opening months unscathed,” he said. “The situation shows that vaccinated people can still carry and transmit COVID and still get sick with it, they’re just not going to tax the health system as much.”

In all, the Blue Grotto has been open for about five weeks after it was forced to close because of COVID restrictions on nightclubs. Johnston told NL News he was “forced” to open as provincial and federal supports were drying up.

“The people that were here that were involved in that event have actually gone above and beyond to reach out to me to give me their test results, to give me their encouragement. It encourages me to continue doing things the way that I’m doing and that’s public safety over profits any day,” he said of his decision to notify people about the situation at the nightclub.

“We want to put on live music events. We want people to have fun and we would love for people to come in and be able to dance again but if I have to play it cool until that gets lifted, then I will continue to play it cool.”

Interior Health investigating COVID exposure at the Blue Grotto as a possible outbreak

In a statement to NL News Friday, Interior Health says it is now investigating the COVID exposure at the Blue Grotto as a possible outbreak, though an outbreak has not yet been declared at this time.

“We are continuing to contact trace anyone who has tested positive and working with the owner of the Blue Grotto, who agreed to a 10-day closure which would end on Oct. 25, which is 10 days after the event that’s being investigated,” IH said, in the statement.

“Of course this could change as we continue to gather more details on the potential outbreak.”

Anyone who attended the concert is also being told to self-monitor for symptoms and if they develop symptoms get tested for COVID-19.

“Interior Health does not disclose case counts for privacy reasons, unless an outbreak has been declared. Should an outbreak be declared, we will share more information,” IH added.

“The COVID-19 vaccinations are your best protection against infection and illness. Being fully vaccinated makes it 9 times less likely that you will be infected, 40 times less likely to be hospitalized, and 41 times less likely to die from COVID if infection does occur.”

For now, while the Blue Grotto has been professionally cleaned and sanitized, Johnston says he is looking forward to reopening, when it is safe.

“We can’t really afford to be closed this weekend but it is too close to the event for us to reopen,” he said. “Even IH said, ‘yeah, you should probably be closed for about 10 days’ until they can complete their investigation so we’re waiting for them,” Johnston said.

“We sort of anticipate being back open and safe by Halloween weekend.”