Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has placed 10 businesses in its region on its newly-created list of workplaces closed due to onsite coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
On Thursday morning (April 15), VCH added a section to its existing "public exposures" page to list any "workplace closures."
The new system for triggering closures and subsequently reporting them that puts more control in the hands of each of British Columbia's five health authority regions was announced by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on April 8.
Late Thursday, VCH filled in the "Current Business Closures," placing venues like Scandinave Spa in Whistler, two personal beauty services locations, and seven restaurants in Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Whistler on the list.
A media representative for VCH had told V.I.A. by email Thursday that there wasn't anything to report so far: "Since April 8, VCH/WorkSafe BC have not issued a closure order to any businesses in our region on these grounds. We are committed to continuing to ensure workplaces remain safe environments for staff and employers across our communities."
Restaurants reported closed for "communicable disease" now on VCH list of COVID-19 workplace closures
VCH has been continuously listing restaurant closures on a separate existing section of its website, though the nature of those closures is reported as being simply due to "Communicable Disease" at the location, or, in the cases of Gusto - A Taste of Italy or Corduroy, for violating public health orders. All of those listed closures happened on April 8 or earlier.
When asked outright by V.I.A. in writing on April 8 if the numerous Vancouver, Richmond, and Whistler restaurant closures from the first eight days of April 2021 marked as being due to "communicable disease" were because of COVID-19, VCH declined to comment, citing privacy reasons.
However, one of the restaurants listed as being shut down by VCH for "communicable disease," Score on Davie in Vancouver, has publicly indicated they had closed due to a COVID-19 case tied to the restaurant (though they indicated the closure was voluntary). Score did not respond to a request for comment from V.I.A. regarding its closure.
Vancouver Coastal Health has been the health authority consistently reporting the second-highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the province. The region with the highest number of cases remains Fraser Health, which stretches from South Delta to Burnaby and over across the Fraser Valley.
On April 12, Fraser Health added a "Workplace closures" page to its website.
In the first three days of reporting, April 12, 13, and 14, Fraser Health placed 24 businesses on its COVID-19 workplace closures list.
The closure notice may be served by Public Health or WorksafeBC and the closure will remain in place for a minimum of 10 days to prevent further transmission of COVID-19.
In the case of complex workplaces (e.g., large construction sites), a closure may be restricted to parts of the workplace where transmission has occurred.
Here are the 10 businesses listed as being closed in Vancouver Coastal Health due to workplace COVID-19 cases:
Scandinave Spa Whistler
Address: 8010 Mons Rd., Whistler, B.C.
Date of closure: April 3, 2021
Cactus Club Café
Address: 855 Main St., West Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 4, 2021
Cactus Club Café
Address: 1790 Beach Ave., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 4, 2021
Old Spaghetti Factory Whistler
Address: 4154 Village Green, Whistler, B.C.
Date of closure: April 5, 2021
Wish Dry Bar
Address: 1459 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 5, 2021
Awesome Foot + Spa
Address: 947 Seymour St., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 6, 2021
Score Restaurant
Address: 1252 Davie St., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 7, 2021
Coast Restaurant
Address: 1054 Alberni St., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 7, 2021
Hydra Restaurant
Address: 475 Howe St., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 8, 2021
Theirry Mt. Pleasant
Address: 265 E 10th Ave., Vancouver, B.C.
Date of closure: April 8, 2021
