The Nest is set to reopen on Tuesday, May 19, AMS President Cole Evans announced at AMS Council on Wednesday night.
This announcement comes following the provincial government's release of their four-phase BC Restart Plan. The Nest closed on March 17 after classes for the rest of the term had been moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At Council, Evans presented a three-stage plan to open the Nest.
The first stage, beginning next week, will allow the Nest to reopen with limited services and with adherence to public health guidelines. This consists of some take-out dining, optional office work, some services resuming and very limited building amenities.
It will be open Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on weekends.
Reopenings
Blue Chip Café will reopen on May 19 and the Gallery and Honour Roll are set to reopen on May 25, all restaurants only doing takeout services. Food service workers will be required to wear masks and gloves and will have their temperatures taken before the start of their shifts.
“We’re also working at partnering with delivery service companies being Doordash, Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes … as it sustains our operations,” Evans said.
In order to adhere to public health guidelines, all exterior doors will be labeled either an entrance or an exit, elevators will be limited to those with accessibility needs or to a maximum two occupants and the building will be cleaned twice a day. All seating areas around food services will also be closed off, with no table seating for students to work or eat.
As for eventually implementing physically distanced dining, Evans said they will continue to adhere to the province's “industry standards.”
“But for the rest of this month it will be takeout only in those locations.”
The Sexual Assault Support Centre is set to resume limited in-person services, from Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Food Bank will be open on Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Safewalk will aim to resume in mid-June, with other services to continue with online support.
In-person work will be optional for AMS office workers, with physical distancing and limiting meetings to small groups. A “hybridized” in-person AMS Council will be considered in the future.
Moving forward
The second and third stage depend on the success of stage one, as well as how public health guidelines progress throughout the summer. Stage two would include an increased office capacity, some in-person dining with social distancing and expanded take-out, more in-person services and more building amenities.
Stage three’s timing is to-be-determined, following public health guidelines as things progress. This stage would consist of a full reopening of all businesses and services and eventual larger gatherings.
Former AMS President and current Senator Chris Hakim asked about the business planning for the Nest, due to the recent announcement that many classes in the fall will be online and the resulting fact that there may not be many students on campus.
AMS Managing Director Keith Hester said that even if many students aren’t attending classes on campus, there will still be some and the employees of UBC will also be back on campus at that point.
“Right now I believe that we will have sufficient customers, but we will adjust to that as time goes on,” Hester said.
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