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COVID-19 and your bakery

Running your café or your bakery shouldn’t be cause for alarm. While many companies recommend self-isolation for anyone who is coughing or sneezing, you don’t need to quarantine your entire staff if they appear to be healthy.

Television, news and online social media are flooding newsfeeds with tales of hoarding, flight companies cancelling destinations and reports of supply shortages from stores. This can create a cascade effect of panic, and leaving many business owners to wonder if they should open at all.

Health Canada and Restaurants Canada have free resources for staying healthy and calm. Suggestions include washing your hands more often than you already do, offering a bottle of hand sanitizer by your cash register, and wiping down your payment devices with a damp sanitizing cloth as often as possible.

Here are the facts about the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, as we know it, at this point. At the time of this publication, there are 93 confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients in all of Canada. There has been only one death.

Health Canada’s fact-sheet can be downloaded here: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/publications/diseases-conditions/covid-19/coronavirus-factsheet-eng.pdf

The Public Health Agency of Canada’s website states: “While a COVID-19 outbreak is not unexpected in Canada, our public health system is prepared to respond. PHAC, along with provincial, territorial and community partners, continues to reassess the public health risk, based on the best available evidence as the situation evolves.

“The risk to Canadian travellers abroad will vary depending on the destination, as well as the person’s age and health status. There are some destinations where the Government of Canada recommends avoiding all travel or all non-essential travel. Check the latest travel health notices before travelling.”

For running your business, Restaurants Canada has provided a free information guide about running a safe kitchen, and preventing infection in the food industry. https://www.restaurantscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3_Safe-Kitchens-and-Restaurant_Infection-Prevention-Program.pdf

For posters for staff and customers to help remind them to wash and sanitize their hands, RC has also provided some printable posters to be placed near hand sanitizers and bathrooms: https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/navigating-coronavirus-covid-19-resources-for-foodservice-operators

In short: Don’t panic, and keep washing your hands.