Regina restaurant shuts down again after spike in local COVID-19 cases

The lockdown brought on by the pandemic wasn't easy for businesses, especially restaurants. However, one Regina restaurant owner says it's a no-brainer to shutter its doors again with case numbers in Regina on the rise.

The Regina region has 38 active cases as of Aug. 12. The region jumped from 101 total cases on Aug.6 to 132 on Aug.12.

The spike in cases was a turning point forQuan Ngon Wang N'yon Delicious Vietnamese Restaurant, which decided to shut down again.

"We wanted to be proactive," co-owner Alex Truong said.

Truong said they've been taking a cautious approach since the beginning and closed before the province mandated it. The restaurant reopened about a week after the provincial government began Phase 3 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan on June 8.

"We opened takeout and delivery for a couple of days just to see how everyone was gonna be responding to us," Truong said.

"We were grateful enough to have loyal customers who were always supporting us since the beginning and they really helped us out a lot."

It has been up and down since opening, but the business was doing OK, she said, even if it was nothing like before COVID-19.

Truong said sheand her father want to be cautious, as her mother unexpectedly passed away in December. She said her mother really ran the restaurant before.

"For me, my dad it was quite traumatizing," Truong said. "Since then we have always been trying to be safe, trying to be careful."

Truong said the recent outbreak at the K-Bro Linens facility also hit close to home. She said the Vietnamese community is vital to the restaurant and many Vietnamese employees and workers were at the facility when the outbreak happened.

Truong said customers have been great about the decision to close again.

"I'm so, so happy and I'm so grateful to all the customers who have been reaching out to me privately and through the Facebook page," she said. "They've been so understanding and so appreciative and so respectful."

Truong said she hopes people follow the public health guidelines and physical distancing rules to keep case numbers low and in turn, help local businesses keep running.