Coronavirus: Ontario restaurants, bars now required to keep 30-day log of patrons

The province announced new measures for restaurants and bars across Ontario it says will help limit the spread of COVID-19.

The measures include forcing bars, restaurants and tour operators to keep client logs for 30 days.

Medical officers of health or inspectors can demand to see the logs for contact tracing purposes.

In addition, all patrons who visit restaurants will need to remain seated at all times regardless of whether they are eating indoors or outdoors.

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“These additional measures will help reduce close contact between individuals in these settings, and support case and contact tracing, thereby limiting the spread of COVID-19,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a statement.

A provincial spokesperson told Global News that the measures were introduced after observing “outbreaks associated with these establishments in other jurisdictions, including in Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia.”

“There is typically close, prolonged, interpersonal contact with large numbers of people in a closed setting,” the spokesperson for the province said.

Global News has reached out for further information as to what information patrons will need to be provided, how it will be collected and how it will be stored.

Many of the measures already in place at bars and restaurants are similar to those at other businesses though they were required to seat patrons at least two feet apart unless they were separated by an impermeable barrier.