To enter, customers must now show a white paw. In fact, in order to access the dining room, everyone has to submit to the verdict of the swab placed in the nose. The customers, but also the employees, the boss and the journalists in the report.
Young Piper Smith doesn’t appreciate the COVID test to enter this restaurant.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Bélanger
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For owner Michael Dorf, it’s about creating a sanitary bubble in the restaurant and offering his customers peace of mind. Because the tests are added to the whole panoply of measures imposed by the authorities such as the disinfection of tables, physical distancing, the reduction of the number of customers to a quarter of the capacity and the wearing of the compulsory mask as long as one is not not sitting at the table.
Usually, only people who have symptoms will get tested. The great thing about these rapid tests in restaurants is that they catch asymptomatic people, who are contagious without knowing it.
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COVID-19: restaurant screening
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Bélanger
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The owner of the restaurant says that one evening, one of the restaurant employees received a positive test. He therefore did not go to work, which potentially protected his colleagues and clients he might have come into contact with.
The test is of the antigenic type. It is 99% reliable for negative results, according to Dr. David Reese, head of the company Accurex, which administers the tests. Its main flaw: the number of false positives. Regardless, he said, all patients who have tested positive are encouraged to go for a PCR test in the laboratory, such as those used in hospitals.
Dr Reese is convinced that greater democratization of screening tests would quickly curb the pandemic.
What we want to do is really encourage people to get tested over and over again.
The tests are not free. Each customer must pay $ 50. Money well invested in the eyes of Karla Barbossa. As a customer, we are ready to pay for this kind of thing, to be able to eat safely with friends. It gives us peace of mind.
People don’t mind spending $ 20 for a cocktail, so why not spend $ 50 for a test?
Karla Barbossa had to be tested for COVID-19 before enjoying a glass of wine.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Bélanger
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Like many New Yorkers, she has already been tested extensively for COVID. But this is the first time that she didn’t have to stand in line or wait for days to see the results. Better still, it is with a glass of champagne in hand, courtesy of the house, that she awaits the result of the test.
It is an excellent idea
, says Sasha Corban, owner of a production house. She admits having chosen this restaurant for a dinner with friends precisely because of the tests. It allows us to be more relaxed
, she says. She admits that she no longer goes to the restaurant since it is too cold to sit on the terrace.
Sasha Corban readily agrees to be tested for COVID to enjoy this restaurant.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Bélanger
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Much ink has been spilled about the City Winery initiative. If he does not deny the desire to create a buzz, Michael Dorf says he is sincere in his desire to offer solutions.
As with many bars and restaurants, the survival of his business is currently being played out. Its turnover is down 90% compared to last year. If he understands the precautionary principle behind the decision of the health authorities to shut down on Monday, he hopes to convince them that there are other ways to fight the pandemic without jeopardizing an entire section of the economy.
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