On Monday, proof of vaccination will no longer be required at restaurants or gyms, but businesses are still allowed to ask for it.
After a difficult two years working through COVID-19 restrictions and closures in New Brunswick, Luc Doucet is ready to go back to business as usual.
The chief chef and CEO of Black Rabbit Food + Wine in Moncton, said he’s looking forward to the province dropping its proof-of-vaccination requirement starting Monday.
“We think it’s the right move,” Doucet said. “Not only are we over it but I think we need to learn how to live with this.”
Doucet said asking for proof of vaccination slowed service. He said his restaurant offers a three-hour turnaround time for tables and the experience of people having proof of vaccination or people forgetting “kind of hinders on that experience.”
Some businesses are planning to keep the proof-of-vaccination requirement after Monday.
David Duplisea, the chief executive officer at the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses are excited about mandates being removed but others aren’t as ready.
Businesses still allowed to ask
“They’re looking at what combination of options work best for them in their business, where they still keep their customers happy and still keep their employees and their customers safe, too,” Duplisea said.
“So it’s finding what that balance looks like with their business model.”
The chamber is putting out a poll on Monday to get a better sense of how businesses plan to respond.
“We’ll have more concrete data to support what I’m hearing because that’s just what I’m hearing, but a lot of it is subjective. Some of it’s emotional now, too, because some of these changes have happened fairly quickly,” he said.
“You know, they’ve gone from completely locked up asking for all of these things to, within two weeks, completely wide open. So that’s left a little bit of confusion.”
New Brunswick is set to lift all its COVID-19 restrictions — including mask use — by March 14.
Doucet said he’s looking forward to seeing faces again.
“We’re pretty excited with the no-masks thing because our team is very small and talking to people with masks on is tricky.”