Calgary businesses forced to temporarily close as staff test positive for COVID-19

Alberta is seeing a boom in cases of COVID-19 as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread across the country, and it's starting to have an impact on the ability of some businesses to remain open.

The province recorded a record-breaking 2,775 new cases on Wednesday, with an all-time high positivity rate of nearly 30 per cent.

Alberta has also seen active cases more than double in the past week to nearly 17,400.

With so many people now legally required to isolate, employers are having difficulty filling shifts, forcing at least 13 Calgary businesses to shut down temporarily.

Nine of them are downtown or along the Beltline. 

Last Best Brewing & Distilling, The Living Room Restaurant, D.O.P, and One Night Stan's are some of the businesses closed until at least the new year, citing staffing challenges.

Many others are now scrambling to hire more staff to fill several vacant shifts.

And it's not just a Calgary issue.

Annie Dormuth, Alberta provincial affairs director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, tells CTV News that all across the province, business owners are facing similar challenges.

"Specifically with this latest wave, it is causing labour issues for business owners. I'm seeing a lot of examples in the hospitality industry across the province," she said.

"Places are temporarily closing simply because of shortage of labour issues related to staff testing positive or simply business owners for their own personal reasons."

Nearly half of Alberta small businesses report experiencing a shortage of labour and surging cases of COVID-19 certainly isn't helping.

Anyone who tests positive in Alberta is legally required to isolate for at least 10 days, or until symptoms subside, whichever is longer.

However, nearby provinces like B.C. and Saskatchewan have recently changed the rules surrounding how long COVID-positive individuals are required to isolate, and Alberta could soon do the same.

"As we learn more about this new variant, we call on public health officials to adjust accordingly," said Dormuth.

Meanwhile, WestJet says it has seen a 35 per cent increase in active cases over the past few days.

More than 180 employees working for the airline are currently affected by COVID-19, and the company is scaling back flights by 15 per cent through Jan. 31, 2022.

Communications lead Richard Bartrem also believes isolation changes should be considered. 

"We need the governments across Canada to agree in a line on a standardized approach that would have fewer isolation days so that we can actually get people who are entirely asymptomatic back to work faster," he said.