Coronavirus: Manitoba businesses prepare to reopen, expand capacity in Phase 2

Many Manitoba businesses are in the midst of preparing to reopen or expand their capacity on Monday, as the province launches the second phase of its coronavirus reopening plan.

Restaurants, gyms, fitness and recreation centres, bars, and team sports are just a few sectors that will be able to reopen at a limited capacity or expand their services.

Restaurants will be allowed to offer indoor dining at 50 per cent capacity and tables must be six feet apart. Phase one allowed only patios to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

“It’s really exciting, a lot of restaurants have been experiencing limited takeout and people haven’t been getting what they need to survive. So I think it’s really great,” Cordova Tapas & Wine manager Elissa Mota said.

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Mota says between the patio and indoor restaurant, they will be able to accommodate 40 people at a time, including staff.

“Obviously we’re not going to get those numbers, we’re not going to get the revenue that we would typically hope for in the spring and summertime,” she said.

Fitness centres and gyms will be able to reopen as well, with strict sanitary and safety protocols in place.

Rob Guthrie, the general manager of the Winnipeg Winter Club, said they had initially anticipated opening in phase three, so the announcement came as a surprise, but a welcome one.

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Guthrie says the next few days will be busy as they prepare to reopen.

“There was a lot of pressure to get the projects done, but all-in-all I think we’ve done a great job of managing it and we’re going to get there for Monday morning to open the doors at 6 a.m.,” he said.

“We’re very excited.”

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Once recreation facilities and sports fields reopen, both adult and youth team sports can resume. The games will look the same, but the equipment will be cleaned more frequently and there will be fewer people in the stands.

“We acknowledge that we can’t maintain a two-metre physical separation between people while we’re playing these sports,” chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Wednesday.

“We can certainly limit the crowd sizes, we can certainly limit and ensure that there’s physical distancing on people who aren’t participating.”