The B.C. Restaurant and Food Association says a new set of COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the provincial government has customers struggling to understand who they are allowed to dine with.
The association’s president Ian Tostenson says restaurants are trying to tell customers to use common sense and follow advice from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, but he says that advice has been unclear.
“There is a lot of confusion as to who can dine out as a result of the last couple of weeks with Dr. Henry,” Tostenson said Monday.
“The spirit of what Dr. Henry is saying is eat with people you trust, eat with people in your bubble. But if you try to define that too much it gets too hard.”
The provincial orders issued last week require diners to only eat with someone from their own household. If someone is single, they can eat with one or two other people who make up their pandemic bubble.
For example, three friends who are also married cannot all eat together at a restaurant. Another common mistake is parents cannot take their adult child and spouse for a meal at a restaurant if they live in separate households.
“For these two weeks we’re saying stick with your household bubble, and for some people that may mean one or two people who they have close contact with their pandemic bubble,” Henry said Monday.
The biggest challenge to uphold the order is enforcement.
Restaurants are being told not to ask diners whether they are following the rules. Instead, Henry is asking diners to know the rules themselves.
“It is not the restaurant’s responsibility to ask people who they live with, or where they are from,” Tostenson said.
“The more that we increase confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace the harder it is.”
There is growing concern from the province that British Columbians are trying to exploit loopholes in the order. The priority for the government is to crack down on social gatherings if that is in someone’s home or in a restaurant.
One thing enforcement can do is crack down on organized events in a restaurant like live music.
“There is a tendency to … see these like a speed limit and it says 80 (km/h), and maybe I can go 86. That’s not what these are,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said Monday.
“These are provincial health orders to help us stop the spread of a virus that is harming our loved ones in long-term care and causing great disruption in our society, and these are the things we’re doing together to stop that.”