Arcades, Restaurants, and Casinos

Entranceway to ‘Sammy’s rec room’. The entire bar side has been dismantled, the stools placed upon the wall and in front of the bar to maintain physical distancing. A sign in sheet and sanitizer are placed on a table at the front door.

Before reopening of restaurants could begin health care units created guidance for preventive measures in order to stifle the spread of COVID-19. Booths and tables had to be reconfigured in order to allow two meters of distance between each other or be separated through using an impenetrable barrier. Reservations were highly encouraged with preference over payment by card versus with cash. Single use paper menus and heavy cleaning were also required between uses. Sections of restaurants had to be altered, removing waiting rooms completely due to concerns of spread. Many bars and other high traffic areas with restaurants were also taken out of commission due to similar reasoning. Screening of customers for COVID-19 symptoms also became a well used practice as restaurants began to reopen, with documentation recorded for tracing purposes in the event that an infection occurs. (Brantford County Health Unit, 2020).

Restaurants took a hard hit within the early months of the global pandemic due to restrictions placed on the numbers of permitted indoor customers. Fortunately, the summer created a break for many of the restaurants, the restrictions allowing for outdoor patios to be used as a substitution. (CTV news, 2020). Similarly to the indoor tables, tables used for outdoor patios carried their own set of restrictions that were created by the local county healthcare units. The two-meter rule for social distancing continued to be important within the patio setting. Tables were expected to meet the minimum two-meter distance between each other, and customers were expected to continue social distancing from other groups. For sun cover patios were expected to have open airflow, therefore patios were expected to avoid tents, instead using umbrellas or canopies. (Brant County Health Unit, 2020).

New front patio at ‘Sunset Grill’. The umbrellas and chairs are not displayed due to poor weather.

Outdoor barricades at ‘Knechtel’s Foods’, in addition to social distancing in the lineup.

Restaurants face a large hurdle this winter, with the options for outdoor dining limited incredibly due to the weather. Although some venues have been looking into it, much debate on installing heat lamps and windbreaker screens into pre-existing patios in order to winterize them has been a topic of interest in Edmonton Alberta (CTV news, 2020). Many fears about the conditions that are required for comfortable outdoor dining during the winter. Conditions would have to be much more closed in in order to maintain warmth within the space, therefor trapping aerosols and droplets within the space. Concern about risks associated with electric heaters and the carbon monoxide risk of using fuel-burning heaters further discourage this idea (National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, 2020). For many of these restaurants the future looks grim, with 90% of the surveyed restaurants across Canada seeing less sales than the years prior. 56% of surveyed restaurants predict that profitability will not occur again for about a year or potentially even longer. From assistance with labour costs and rent relief, to the accessibility to loans, the countrywide network of restaurants is looking towards the government for support during this troubling pandemic (GlobeNewswire, 2020).

Entrance and parking lot to Brantford Casino on a Friday night. The Parking lot is almost empty, with only a dozen cars in it.

With the initial wave of COVID-19 infections that occurred within Ontario, all of the casinos across the province shut down. This closure lasted for six months until late September, when the provinces casinos were given the ok to reopen. This was allowed with strict regulations placed upon the facilities. Screening of clients now had to occur at the entrance with a maximum of 50 players in attendance at any point in time. The casinos also are expected to offer sanitizer throughout the building. Restricts also limited each individual to two hours of play time within the facilities, and no table games offered at all (CityNews, 2020).

Unlike in casinos, online gambling has thrived during the pandemic, its only other being retail lottery sales. For the 2020 season the industry seen a global decrease of 11%, meanwhile in the same amount of time online gambling has had around a 13.2% increase worldwide (Concordia, 2020). Online activities is obviously the activity that has the risk of COVID-19 spread, but casinos can run safely if the CDC guidelines are followed. With proper social distancing and cleaning measures used between each usage of the machine opening casinos is possible in a reasonably safe manner (CDC, 2020).

Entranceway to ‘Gametime Eatery & Entertainment’ that closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arcades were also significantly hard hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally they are points of gatherings or social events, with people attending in large groups. Issues with that is the lack of social distancing that is a risk when large groups are involved. Arcades are also often small spaces, so social distancing can be a concern. The ventilation of the area is also a worry, due to it not being a typical a concern for arcades. The clientele that typically attend arcades are often younger people, who are less likely to follow government regulations (Global News, 2020). Arcades have opened up during the pandemic with modified protocols. This includes plexiglass installed at entrances for staff, one-way traffic arrows on the floor, obeying social distancing protocols, and sanitizer available at multiple stations across the arcade (Bingemans, 2020).

Even with the precarious position that restaurants, arcades, and casinos find themselves in during the pandemic, not everything is ‘doom and gloom’. Many companies found their own unique ways to deal with the pandemic. Notably ‘Harvey’s’ adopted attaching a hockey stick onto the back on the debit terminal in order to maintain social distancing between staff and clients while traveling through the drive thru. Another restaurant called ‘Fifty’s Grill & Deli’ taped up disposable masks onto all of the portraits that they have hanging upon the wall. They both brough a humorous side to an incredibly daunting situation and created a unique experience that only their store maintains.

Debit terminal on a hockey stick at Harvey’s to ensure social distancing.

Masked Photographs at “Fifty’s Grill & Deli.”