coronavirus restaurant toronto

Chinese restaurant in Markham now requiring all staff to go through full-body sanitization

In the wake of coronavirus paranoia citywide, a hot pot restaurant in Markham has announced that it's taking some pretty over-the-top measures to quell concerns about cleanliness.

XiangZi Hot Pot, one of Markham's fanciest hot pot restaurants, has announced that it's now conducting "full-body sanitation" on its staff.

What that sanitation process looks like isn't entirely clear: owners did not respond for comment, so realistically could be anything from wet wipes to quarantine-style hose downs (the latter's a little less likely). 

The restaurant has announced that it's now mandatory for its employees to wear face masks, which are changed every four hours—evidently they've somehow managed to snag some respiratory masks that have been sold-out across the city.

Staff must now wash their hands every two hours, and once before serving food. They'll also be checking the body temperature of its employees regularly, says a post on the brand's Instagram account.  

"Let us fight the virus together," says the post, which shows photos of XiangZi employees wiping down several surfaces of the restaurant with antiseptic and checking body temperatures with an infrared thermometer. 

The restaurant's new policy seems like a lot of work to combat a global health emergency that, for the meantime, has been declared low-risk in Toronto

But amidst cases of rising visibility of racism agains the Chinese community, local businesses (in particular, Chinese eateries) must implement new tactics to fight a marked decrease in traffic

The optics of face masks may not help stop the spread of anti-Chinese xenophobia spreading worldwide, but it doesn't hurt when it comes to overall public hygiene. 

Lead photo by

XiangZi Hot Pot


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