Owner of Vancouer’s Rio Theatre ‘blindsided’ by COVID-19 health orders

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Corinne Lea, the owner of the Rio Theatre, says she was shocked that movie theatre operators were forced to shut down on Monday under the province-wide health regulations.

“The thing that’s upsetting is that bars are still open. They’re trying to make us believe that it’s for safety, but it’s clearly not the case,” she says.

The orders were implemented to stop the spread of the virus by cutting down social interactions, which have been causing the majority of transmission.

Health order ‘events’ ban clarified

Last Thursday, the province announced restrictions would be extended and expanded for another two weeks, which included no events or social interactions outside strict bubbles.

The ban also prohibits gatherings with under 50 people that were previously allowed.

On Monday, Dr. Bonnie Henry clarified health orders, saying the event ban includes movie theatres and would go until Dec 7.

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Lea says she was blindsided by that announcement and the lack of clarity as she continued to operate over the weekend.

“We were all waiting for it on Thursday, and when they said theatres could stay open I thought we would at least have more time until there were more closures. They only gave us a weekend until they shut movie theatres down,” she says.

Lea says with restaurants allowed to stay open, it seems like a “matter of semantics.”

“And it’s affecting so many people’s livelihoods,” she adds.

Closing theatres ‘doesn’t make sense’

The Rio has been operating at a 12 per cent capacity since the start of the pandemic, Lea explains.

“I’ve got 40-foot ceilings, I’ve got the capacity for 420 people, and I’ve only got 50 people spread out, we’ve got all the safety protocols.”

There have been no outbreaks at the Rio Theatre and Lea is calling on the province to consider that when issuing health orders.

“If this was about safety, that doesn’t make any sense because no bar is safer than a giant movie theatre with only 50 people in it,” she says.

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Lea adds the only way they’ve been able to stay open is through a wage and rent subsidy from the government.

“It’s not easy to shut down a movie theatre, you don’t just close the doors and that’s it. We’ve got weeks of programming, I’ve had to pay advances for films, people bought tickets. you’ve got to reschedule. It’s a lot of work, and it’s costly. Not to mention all your staff you have to lay off.”

She says with cases rising in the province, she wouldn’t be surprised if bans lasted through December.

“All of our customers rave about how safe they feel with the amount of space you have to space out. I wish they would look at individual businesses instead of doing these blanket closures.”