For many, the time at home has left them stir crazy. Phase 4.2 of the province’s plan to reopen the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, allows some entertainment to reopen.
Libraries, museums, galleries, movie and live theatres can reopen on June 29 — but some say they won’t be ready right away.
Global News reached out to a number of museums and theatres in Saskatoon and Regina. The message was the same — they won’t be opening come Monday. Many pointed to needing to review the province’s new guidelines and ensure they are able to reopen safely.
With new guidelines, many are still figuring out how to reopen safely, including the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon.
CEO Joan Kanigan says they have about three football fields worth of space to consider.
“For all of those spaces, we have to know how many people can be in them, what the social distancing needs are, where high-touch areas (are), what cleaning regimes we have to implement,” she explained.
The museum is still considering what parts to reopen, and what to keep closed.
“We have discovery rooms for kids that have all sorts of soft, plushy, hands-on things which are just really not good and the spaces are small,” Kanigan said.
Other establishments have to consider what smaller crowd sizes mean for their bottom line, such as The Exchange, a live music venue in Regina.
These establishments will be allowed to open at 30-per cent capacity, or 150 people, whichever is smaller.
“I don’t think we’d do a complete not reopen,” said executive director John Kennedy.
“We’ll see what makes sense and there might be a streaming component or something attached to them because we may not be able to get enough people in the venue.”
The venue says one big change will be seating rather than the usual standing crowds. It plans to spend the next week or two going over the province’s guidelines to figure out what it needs to do to reopen
Meanwhile, some movie theatres will open next month. Both Cineplex and Landmark Cinemas said they plan to reopen July 3 in emails to Global News.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
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