Antigonish businesses losing holiday income amid St. FX COVID-19 outbreak

Some restaurant owners in Antigonish, N.S., say they're losing crucial holiday income due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at St. Francis Xavier University.

On Thursday, 38 new cases were reported, bringing the total number related to the St. FX outbreak to 59. There are now multiple exposure notices for many businesses in Antigonish. The full list is available here.

Mark Gabrieau, who runs Gabrieau's Bistro with his wife in Antigonish, said he's already seeing the fallout of the COVID-19 spike as people cancel dinner reservations and Christmas parties.

He said those cancellations have meant a loss of at least $30,000, which is close to 50 per cent of their monthly sales. 

"That's very, very hard for us to absorb, especially after what we've been through in the last 18 months," Gabrieau told CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia on Friday.

The outbreak has been linked to events tied to the X-Ring ceremony that happened on Dec. 4 and 5. 

St. FX president Andy Hakin said Thursday the sanctioned campus events like the "Super SUB" party at the Bloomfield Centre followed Public Health rules, which allow people to have their masks off in a crowded area if they're eating or drinking. But Gabrieau doesn't agree.

He said that the campus event was "mishandled" and not properly supervised, adding that some of his own staff were students attending the Bloomfield Centre party who left because protocols weren't being followed.

He said he is frustrated with the university that "they haven't accepted responsibility, they haven't apologized."

With the outbreak coming during the holiday shopping season, where most retail stores bring in a lot of their income, people will likely go outside of Antigonish to do their shopping even if they intended on shopping locally.

"I don't think they realize the devastation, like how hard this is on the business community," he said.

Cancelled bookings

Caitlin Shimozawa, who co-owns The Townhouse restaurant with her husband, said they've had their doors closed since Wednesday when they found out they were a possible COVID-19 exposure site.

She told Maritime Noon they will likely be closed until next week when most of their staff have the results of their PCR tests. They've also had to cancel group bookings this weekend, while events set for next week have been cancelled or postponed.

But Shimozawa said there have been long lines at the Antigonish testing areas and she's heard the on-campus mobile testing centre was also busy.

"Hopefully, with everybody being proactive, we can all by next week … start to feel a little more comfortable getting out again," Shimozawa said.

The province said Thursday that the majority of the COVID-19 spread happened in smaller, private gatherings. Most cases are related to those who attended activities late last week both on and off campus.

The release also said the cases are mostly young people who are fully vaccinated. St. FX has reported that about 95 per cent of its student body is vaccinated. It is one of two post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia, along with Acadia University, that has not mandated vaccinations.

Fourth-year St. FX student Sydney Chambers said it seemed like the school had all the procedures in place to keep people as safe as possible, but a variant like Delta could have taken advantage of any gaps despite the school's high vaccination rate.

"I'm still happy about the weekend. I did have fun and I'm really glad that I can look back on my X-Ring and it's still a positive memory … but now with what's happened, I mean, I'm sick from it, so it's not the greatest," Chambers told CBC's Maritime Noon on Friday.

"It's definitely unfortunate that it happened to so many people, and it's affecting the town like this. But … I'm just trying to have a positive attitude about it."

Student became sick on Monday

Chambers, 22, said she began feeling sick on Monday and has been isolating since then. She is fully vaccinated.

It started with a cough and stuffy nose and headache, then a fever set in the next day. She has also dealt with full-body pains and headaches, which Chambers said are now clearing up.

She attended the X-Ring events last weekend with family members who came from Ontario. They have not tested positive.

Chambers did bring her family to her favourite local coffee shop over the weekend, and said she feels guilty she had to alert them they were a possible exposure site. 

She said during the "Super SUB" event at the Bloomfield Centre, where there was a bar on every floor, most people carried drinks. They believed that allowed them to keep their masks down. CBC has heard similar reports of the event from other students.

After parents' night Thursday, a gathering at an off-campus pub was also a "mask-down" kind of event, Chambers said.

"It was like a fairytale weekend where you kind of forget because we've had so few cases for so long, it's really easy to forget that the virus is very real and very present," Chambers said, adding she has "no regrets" about attending.

Exams began Friday, and St. FX has said it's up to professors to decide whether tests will be offered in person or online. Students also have the option to postpone until the new year, but the province is asking everyone to not leave for Christmas until their exam schedules are complete.