Covid 19 Update: November 3rd, 2022
More restrictions coming off; meals back to normal, Friday night music back downstairs.
The number of people hospitalized in B.C. with covid below 300 now, and dropping. Many of those under care had pre-existing conditions as well. In a province of over five million people, that works out to under 0.006 percent of the population in hospital. To put it another way, less than six people out of 100,000 or if you were in a packed Rogers Arena for a Canucks game, less than one person would be in hospital; like their head and one arm were okay, but the rest of them was under care.
The following changes were made to our policies on Friday, September 30th:
- Masks or face coverings will no longer be required, but can be worn at the discretion of the individual.
- We will no longer be calling every guest before their arrival in order to outline our protocols for them and confirm their arrival.
- The downstairs washrooms will return to the normal ‘men’s’ and ‘ladies’ designations, instead of ‘staff’ and ‘guests’.
- Friday’s packed lunches will return to regular dining room service, with Sunday to return soon.
- Our voluntarily imposed reduction in occupancy will be phased out and more accommodation will be available.
As of early November, we are also returning to our regular ‘breakfast to order’ style of service, instead of the buffet that was necessary due to staff shortages. The Sunday ‘packed lunches’ have now been phased out and most peoples check out day will now return to our usual dining room buffet, hot feature lunch.
After consulting with our staff, some of which had health concerns, we have decided that it is time to make mask wearing optional for them. Many may still choose to wear them and, like our guests, that is their personal choice and fully supported by us.
However, the situation, that everyone is aware of regarding the difficulty of finding people to work is still upon us, so a few little precautions will remain in place until we can afford to have some staff people off sick and not have to think about closing down cabins.
- We are not starting up the crowded dances or libations service quite yet.
- We are still not able to staff the shuttle van in order to be able to operate it consistently.
Rest assured that we are watching the infection numbers and, at the moment, don’t seem to be seeing the dreaded ‘spike’ that was anticipated for the Fall season. If we can carry through the Winter on the track we’re on now, and nothing else comes crawling out of the woodwork, you could reasonably expect a pretty much ‘fully back to normal’ year in 2023.
It has been challenging to navigate the uncertain waters of these past two and a half years, to say the very least. We have had to make judgement calls based on the incomplete information that we had and were always facing the fact that being not cautious enough could have disastrous effects on some of our more mature and vulnerable guests. We erred on the side of caution and at the end of the day, I will stand by that as the most reasonable approach.
However, we have all been looking forward to the days when things will seem more or less ‘normal’ again. Rest assured that we will keep a close eye on the situation and continue to do our best to keep you safe while being realistic about what ‘safe’ is and remembering that we are in the hospitality business and need to be as hospitable as the situation will allow.
Our sincere thanks to our guests and staff who have been amazingly understanding, patient and cooperative during these unprecedented, (at least since 1918), times. As always, we look forward to your visit.
