Olde Village Free House owner Allan Cockburn said the early days of the provincial vaccine passport system has caused frustration.
The Main Street restaurant is enforcing the new rules that went into place Sept. 22, which require them to verify a person has been double-vaccinated for two weeks before allowing entry for indoor dining.
But although he said accepts what the government is doing to curb the pandemic, it is leading to fewer customers and adding a burden onto the staff.
“It’s labour intensive,” he said of having to check every customer’s status. “It seems like we have to have another half-staff on full time, just because the process to take a drink order now takes about 15 minutes. We have to collect two pieces of ID.”
Businesses across Newmarket are grappling with the new system. Vaccine verification is required at restaurants and bars, gyms, recreation centres, nightclubs and casinos.
Cockburn said though the pushback has been limited, there has been some, including one customer who tried to call the police on the restaurant for enforcing the rules. But he said he has had to filter people out trying to escape poor weather, including those with a single vaccination or not two weeks clear of a second dose.
He said he would like to see capacity limits increase, especially when patio dining -— which does not require vaccine verification — becomes less popular due to weather.
“If it’s a cold, rainy day, the best I can do on that day is 50 per cent (capacity),” he said. “I don’t know anybody that is in business of any kind that would be satisfied living with 50 per cent.”
Upper Canada Mall is also dealing with the new rules. Spokesperson Adrienne Simic said the mall has closed off some seating areas in the food court, with access points limited for centre staff to check proof of vaccination.
"The health and safety of everyone in our shopping centres, and the wider community, is our priority and we continue to support public health measures as mandated by municipal and provincial health and safety regulations," she said.
Newmarket Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tracy Macgregor said about 75 per cent of their membership indicated support of proof of vaccination in high-risk indoor settings.
“Having a standardized, accessible system is important,” she said. “It is important to protect your most vulnerable groups, but also to avoid another province-wide lockdown that would be devastating.”
But she said the administrative burden on businesses is a point of concern, as it was with previous public health rollouts like the mask mandate. She said the province's enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code could help, but that does not come online until Oct. 22.
“The key will be to just make it as simple and as easy to access it as possible,” she said.
Cockburn said further said government support for businesses like wage subsidies have been helpful, but he added they need to continue, and more could prove necessary.
“Hopefully, they get this sorted,” he said. “They’re saying it’s only a temporary measure. But COVID was only supposed to last a couple of months.”
