SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- With restrictions loosening, many New Brunswick businesses are anxiously awaiting the green light from the provincial government on when they will be able to reopen.
It won't be business as usual though, as many will have to adjust the way they work or operate.
Getting ready for work will look quite a bit different for Saint John hairstylist Adam Donnelly once hair salons and barber shops reopen.
"Us stylists will wear an apron to protect ourselves," Donnelly said. "We will wear a face shield, and we are also going to wear a mask that is filtered so that we don't transmit anything and we don't transmit anything coming in the air."
Customers coming into the Element 5 Spa and Salon in uptown Saint John will also be required to wear pre-taped fabric masks as well.
Plexiglass has been installed in the reception and the manicure station as well -- and the business will also be following physical distancing.
"There will be a bit of a staggered seating for all of the staff and all of the guests," Donnelly said.
The province says, if we see three to four weeks without a new wave, that's when high-contact businesses like salons and barber shops could be allowed to reopen.
In that same provincial recovery framework, it says restaurants could reopen two to four weeks after the curve flattens.
Billy's Seafood of Rothesay, N.B., has made adjustments to its business by doing online fish market orders -- and plans to take it a step further soon by doing restaurant takeout, says owner Billy Grant.
"What we are hearing is, when we do open it's going to be 50 per cent capacity, so if we're taking in 100 people, we'll have to narrow it down to 50 and that will be a start, but we just don't know what the new norm is going to be," Grant says.
Only one thing appears certain -- it won't be business as usual.
