The owner of a Collingwood restaurant has created an online petition, asking the Ontario government to include restaurant workers on its list of people eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 2.
Phase 2 of the province’s COVID-19 distribution plan is due to begin next month.
Cassie MacKell, who is the owner of Low Down Bar and Grill on Simcoe Street, created the petition on Change.org.
She says, “This plan includes police and fire professionals, social workers and grocery store workers all deemed as essential workers that cannot work from home but neglects to list restaurant and food service workers, disregarding this entire industry as essential.”
MacKell adds, “General Hillier and Premier Ford, if the vaccines are determined by level of risk, I ask you to consider the following: We prepare and serve meals to people who are not wearing masks while they eat or drink. We cannot stay 6ft apart from our guests, we cannot work from behind plexi-glass and we certainly cannot work from home. We handle thousands of used forks, plates and glasses just hoping that we’ve used enough sanitizer to keep ourselves safe. We work on the frontlines in a high-risk position! Now that Ontario has a steady flow of vaccines available it is devastating and completely unacceptable to see that restaurant and food service workers are not considered essential candidates for Phase 2. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial to the safety of all Ontarians who work at or visit restaurants and food service outlets that you immediately include restaurant and food service workers on the Phase 2 vaccination list.”
According to Restaurants Canada, more than 10 per cent of restaurants across the country have already closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 16- hundred people have signed the petition so far (as of 9am Thursday) and counting.
For more details on the petition, please click here.