Some Ottawa businesses temporarily closing as COVID-19 testing remains out of reach

Outside of Lee Valley Tools, a small line up of customers could be seen waiting at the door.

"It looks like the store is closed," said Mike Bodis, who was hoping to return some clamps. "So, figuring out what's going on."

The Ottawa-based retail company closed all its retail stores in Canada to in-person shopping until Jan. 10 in a move to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, by limiting the number of interactions between staff and customers.

"As soon as you can reduce number of close contacts, that's a big stress reliever for our staff," said owner Robin Lee.

This comes as COVID-19 testing centres in the Ottawa area continue to hit capacity limits. The Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce reported 3,096 swabs were processed at assessment centres in the city on Monday. The average turnaround time to get a result was 31 hours.

With the rising COVID-19 case count and the difficulty to book an appointment to be tested, other businesses also chose to shut their doors at least until after the new year.

"We were just concerned about protecting staff and customers. There were so many asymptomatic cases," said Doug Feltmate, the owner of St. Martha's Brasserie d'Orléans.

He added, with so many unknowns, including a lack of access to rapid tests (his restaurant ran out of tests before Christmas), it was the only thing to do.

"We tried to order some, but we don't know when it's coming in," he said. "If somebody wasn't well, or off, and they couldn't get tested … we didn't want to take the risk."

Back at Lee Valley Tools, a few people continued to wait patiently outside the doors.

"I was here on the 23rd and it was packed full of people," said Vivian. "When I came today, I was surprised to see no one really inside the store."

The store is allowing some to enter by appointment, but most wait in their cars for curbside pickup, an option Lee may consider beyond Jan. 10, should COVID-19 numbers continue to climb.

"Restaurant and retail workers have had a really tough fall," said Lee. "They deserve to have employment that isn't as stressful and is as risk-free as it could be."