From anger to relief: Manitobans react to new vaccination rules

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This article was published 27/08/2021 (1841 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Measures to exclude unvaccinated Manitobans from activities such as sporting events and dining at restaurants will only make that group more defiant and entrenched in their opposition to getting the shot, Winkler Mayor Martin Harder predicts.

Winkler and nearby areas hold the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the province.

“The heavy-handedness is the problem,” Harder said. “In the eyes of the people who are not vaccinated, this has stepped over the line.”

On Friday, Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced masks would be mandated in all indoor public places starting Saturday.

Furthermore, restaurants, movie theatres, gyms, sporting events, concerts, casinos and other recreational facilities will require attendees to be double-vaccinated. Attendees will have to flash QR codes, or vaccine passports, to enter such spaces as of Sept. 3.

“It is a human right to decide what to put into your body and what you don’t,” Harder said. “To some, it is a very serious issue; to others, it is not.”

He encouraged his community to be respectful and kind.

“We urge people to comply with mask use so that we can avoid the new spread that may be coming,” he said.

Harder added he hopes the community will remember employers and their staff don’t make the rules; they’re enforcing provincially mandated orders in local businesses.

“There’s definitely going to be a lot of controversy between customers and our staff,” said Vanessa Petkau, the supervisor of Mulligans Restaurant and Lounge in Winkler.

Petkau and her co-workers have been yelled at and subjected to rude comments while trying to enforce public health measures.

“We don’t want to go through it again, but what can you do?” she said. “We’re just trying to do our job by making it safe for everyone.”

It’s hard to tell how much business will drop off, but it could be marginal, Petkau said.

Dino Camiré, the owner of One Family Fitness Centre in Winnipeg, was prepared for the measures, including the reinstatement of the mask mandate.

“We knew this was coming. We’ve seen it in other jurisdictions,” he said.

He chose to keep a mask-wearing requirement in his gym throughout the summer, even when the province rolled back restrictions on mask use.

“Many of our members are health-conscious,” Camiré said. “It wouldn’t make any sense to take it off just to exercise if they’re wearing it everywhere else, because they’re looking out for their fellow Manitobans.”

Loren Remillard, the president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the changes with open arms.

“The quicker we can get to herd immunity, the sooner we can eliminate the need for vaccine passports, but we’re not there yet,” he said.

The chamber was involved in discussions about the new public health measures.

“We believe that this will be a strong measure to — especially for those that are vaccine hesitant — to say, ‘Look, there’s fewer places I can go, fewer things I can do as an unvaccinated person… I better get my vaccination,'” Remillard said.

Additionally, reinstating the mask mandate makes running a business easier because customers understand the provincial government enacted the rule, Remillard said.

The Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association had input into public health orders, said CEO Shaun Jeffrey.

“We’re not blind to the fact that this is going to cause a little more strain on our industry, but it’s going to cause far less strain… than a full lockdown,” he said.

It’s better to take a proactive approach than be devastated by a fourth wave of COVID-19 driven by the delta variant, Jeffrey said.

“We need Manitobans’ help more than ever,” he said about the restaurant industry, adding he hopes people who are eligible to be vaccinated but haven’t yet will get their jabs.

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca