Statement Regarding COVID19 and Public Health
Tuesday March 17 ☘️
It is with careful consideration and a heavy heart that we have come to the difficult decision to temporarily suspend operations of The Old Firehouse Wine & Cocktail Bar.
This is a week-to-week decision that may be subject to change as things move forward.
This is an unprecedented situation for most of us. Ultimately, all we can do is TO DO OUR BEST to make sure our neighbours, families and friends are safe. For us, that means closing the bar. For you, these decisions may be different. Just please do your best to keep healthy - and to protect and help others. The faster we nail down this social distancing thing, the better for everyone. :)
We will be available to answer emails and mail out gift certificates during this shut down, via our website. And we promise to do our best to make sure EVERY one of our precious coworkers will have a job to return to as soon as we can make it happen. We just have to get through this.
Love & Light.
xxoo
March 13th
From: The Old Firehouse Wine & Cocktail Bar
To Our Lovely Guests, Staff and others —
As everyone is certainly aware right now, the concerns about COVID-19 is a worldwide issue that reaches far beyond our beautiful Cowichan Valley. Travelling is restricted and large grouping events (250 people+) are suspended for the foreseeable future as public health authorities work to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, to keep our communities safe as possible.
It is our hope that you are all safe and healthy and continue to stay that way.
Meanwhile, as we are reckoning with the consequences of our various options, we have made some short term plans covering this weekend (March 13th and 14th) that we wish to share:
1. We will be cancelling our Saturday Night dance party in deference to the fact that dancing — by its very nature — is not compatible with the public health goals of “social distancing”. We are sorry for this last minute change, but promise to reschedule a big, wonderful party for you when health concerns of this scale aren’t such a huge priority.
2. However we will be OPEN for these two nights (3pm till @midnight) but with extra effort to keep space between tables. We have also implemented additional cleaning protocols to ensure that there is no likelihood of transmission within the bar.
3. Staff and guests alike are respectfully asked to consider staying home if they are feeling at all unwell. This may mean service might be a bit slower than normal, but we feel this is a reasonable tradeoff for The Old Firehouse to remain a safe place to visit.
We are deeply concerned about our community’s health, and also about our staff’s employment. It is with this in mind that we hope to balance these considerations, keeping everyone safe while also still providing some limited services for those who are comfortable venturing out.
We will be closed on Sunday/Monday (as normal) and will offer an update on Tuesday for how we intend to proceed going forward. This situation is a tricky one… and our plans are not “cast in stone” so much as “cast in melting butter”. 🙂
Updates will be offered immediately as we learn more.
Sincerely,
Jeff & Alanah Downie