Strip clubs keeping it clean Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Sunday, Jul. 19, 2020

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This article was published 18/07/2020 (1524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has transformed the ways Winnipeg’s adult entertainment businesses operate, with new public health protocols banning standing bar service, putting private dances on hold and downsizing the number of voyeurs allowed in venues.

But one local business owner says the show must go on — after the stripper pole has been wiped down.

Patrons who enter Lipstixx Experience mid-pandemic will find there are more security guards, fewer seating options and new physical distancing markers all over the dark club.

These are among the changes owner Robert Tummillo has implemented in order to stay operational and avoid a COVID-19 outbreak in his strip club on the corner of Arlington Street and Logan Avenue. Tummillo said he isn’t taking any chances to risk getting shut down, after being forced to shutter for more than six weeks this year.

“I’m just trying to keep everybody healthy and happy here,” he said Saturday. “I want to stay open. I want to get 100 per cent capacity back on. I want to get my private shows up and running, because the dancers are losing out on a lot of money.”

On the hour, an employee wipes down the facility’s door knobs, toilet flush handles and other frequently-touched surfaces. Cleaning is also done before an exoctic dancer takes to the stage for a performance with one of the silver poles on the mainstage. Up to five dancers performed together on special occasions previously, but now, only one woman is allowed at a time.

Since the venue’s capacity of 300 has dropped to 75, many of the club’s pleather black seats have been turned to face the wall, or have signage posted on them to dissuade visitors from taking a seat. The only time people are allowed to get up is if they are going to the bathroom, going outside to smoke, quickly leaving a tip on the stage or getting up to leave.

Although strip clubs haven’t explicitly been addressed in any of Manitoba’s public health orders or reopening phase documents, a provincial spokesperson confirmed such businesses — the three locations in Winnipeg: Lipstixx Experience, Solid Gold and Teasers Burlesque Palace, included — are subject to restrictions for licensed premises.

That means these establishments are required to either physically distance seating areas so that visitors from different households are at least two metres apart or set-up physical barriers between booths, as per Dr. Brent Roussin’s latest orders, which came into effect June 26.

For the time being, strip clubs, bars and other businesses with liquor licenses are also prohibited from using dance floors, as well as hookahs and other water pipes.

One dancer at Teasers, who declined to provide her name, said she’s been taking extra precautions to keep herself safe by washing her hands thoroughly before and after she performs on stage. Pandemic or not, the poles are dirty, she said.

During a break between sets Saturday afternoon, she added that the strip club on Archibald Street has halted its “five (dancers) at 5 p.m.” special.

Back at Lipstixx Experience, Tummillo said alcohol and public health protocols don’t always mesh, which is why he has hired additional security. But he insists the “atmosphere” remains the same as it did in early March. (Touching was already unacceptable in the province’s strip clubs.)

To date, there have been no COVID-19 cases tied to nightlife venues in Winnipeg to date — although a number of city bars have been fined for breaking public health orders.

Elsewhere in the country, COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported in bars, with at least 45 cases now connected to bars in Montreal. Concerns about transmission in indoor bars prompted the Ontario Medical Association to call on the Ford government to rethink reopening these businesses this week.

In recent weeks, two Vancouver strip clubs have also had to temporarily close their doors, after multiple people who attended each venue tested positive for the virus.