Durham is one of a handful of municipalities given the green light to move into Stage 2 of the province’s reopening plan starting Friday.
Business owners across the region are now working to ensure they’re able to establish the necessary precautions.
Monday’s announcement had Waves Salon owner Colleen Treen feeling a wide range of emotions.
“All the feelings,” she said. “Overwhelmed, excitement, ’cause we’ve been waiting months to hear the news.”
Treen says she’s fully booked over the next couple of months after not being able to operate since March.
“I’m asking all my clients to email because if they try to contact me through social media or over the phone, they might just get lost in the chaos.”
While Treen is excited, she says there is still some concern, particularly when it comes to the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), as many other businesses are also being allowed to reopen.
Sarah Chiapparro, owner of Berry Hill Food Company, is also having concerns about reopening her restaurant patio. She says moving tables to create physical distancing will be the least of her problems.
Instead, she’s now fixated on re-training staff who were laid-off during the pandemic but are now hired back.
“Training them on little things like how to remind your customers in a hospitable way, ‘this is going to take a little bit longer because there are a lot more safety protocols in place,'” she said.
However, Chiapparro says she’s excited to “start inviting people back into our space.”
For regions moving forward with Stage 2, singing and dancing will be strictly prohibited on restaurant patios in an effort to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Regional chair John Henry commented on the province’s announcement Monday, saying that while he is excited for Durham to be back in business, he wants patrons to be aware of the health restrictions in place.
“While we’re starting to reopen our economy in Durham and that is a great story,” Henry said, “we’re not over this yet.”
Along with bars, outdoor patios and hair salons, malls and other retail stores will be able to open with limited capacity.
Durham, York region and Niagara, along with a handful of other municipalities, have all been given approval to move on to Stage 2.
However, Toronto, Peel and Windsor currently remain on stand-by.
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