Calgary salons, restaurants, workers prepare for gradual reopening in Alberta's COVID-19 epicentre

Restaurants, bars and salons are in Alberta's first stage of relaunch amid the COVID-19 pandemic,to reopen as early as May 14.

But in Calgary, home of Alberta's highest concentration of cases, workers and business owners havemixed feelings about getting up and running again.

Redbloom Salon owner Troy Winget says he is working with his team to reopen, but is concerned that he shouldn't.

"I've gone through the gamut of feelings: excited, apprehensive and scared," Winget said.

He says he's been in constant planning mode to reopen, but due to safety concerns, he'sstill looking at waiting until the pandemic has peaked in Calgary.

Winget says he wished the provincial government had consulted industry before making the announcement.

Gradual reopening

Alberta's reopeningbegan Friday with resumedaccess toprovincial parks and boat launches, although services such as washrooms may take longer to be ready for Albertans.

As of Monday,non-emergency medical services, suchas elective surgeries, dental hygiene and physiotherapy, will be allowed to reopen their offices.

The strategy includes the reopening of some retail stores and restaurants, with limits, on May 14.

There will be some risk associated with Alberta's relaunch plan, according to University of Albertainfectious disease physician Dr. Lynora Saxinger, who notesthatknowledge of COVID-19 is still evolving.

"If you have a certain distance between people at a restaurant, is that truly enough? That kind of question, Ithink, is still potentially going to evolve," she said.

She recommendsthat Alberta be ready to back off relaunch plans if cases of COVID-19 begin to surge again.

On Thursday, provincial officials said they were planning to monitor closely how the reopening affects cases. The province also has plans to increase testing and contact tracing to limit the spread, and has strongly recommended the use of masks in all public spaces.

'Calculated risk'

Dr. Vanessa Meier-Stephenson, an infectious disease physician at the University of Calgary, says reopening some businesses will be a tradeoff but that the Alberta government has weighed that "calculated risk."

"Anytime we release or remove these restrictions, more people will get infected. That's going to be a guarantee," Meirer-Stephenson said. "Whether or not our system can handle that surge is going to be the biggest factor in termsof how quickly we can open things."

Workers are weighing the risk, as well, when considering if they'll answer the call to go back to work. Calgary bartender and server Autumn Fox says she is worried about making enough money but also about staying safe on the job.

"Itjust doesn't seem feasible," Fox said Friday. "How do you interact with customers at a distance?"

Whenrestaurants'dining roomsopen in this first stage, they won't be permitted to havebar service and must limit seating to 50 per cent capacity.

The first stage of Alberta's gradual reopening of the economy includes bookstores, clothing andfurniture outlets,stalls at farmers markets, museums and art galleries, daycares, out-of-school care and summer camps with limits on occupancy, and cafs.

More details are available about subsequent stages of reopening.