Most still wearing masks despite relaxed rules

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/08/2021 (1678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province may no longer require Manitobans to mask up indoors, but in Winnipeg, at least, it appears the majority of residents — and many local businesses — still prefer to keep the masks on, when in busy spaces.

On Saturday, the first day of relaxed public health orders announced earlier this week, the majority of visitors to many local businesses were masked. At Polo Park Shopping Centre, at least 90 per cent of patrons wore masks, by a Free Press count, with only a handful choosing to forgo the facial covers.

All over the city, Winnipeggers reported similar ratios amongst shoppers at groceries, malls and major retail outlets. At one café, staff counted that 84 per cent of diners through one shift wore masks. An owner of one local repair business kept a tally showing 72 per cent of the day’s first customers wore masks.

“I was out running errands all afternoon,” Mira Oberman noted, on Twitter. “Don’t think I saw a single person without a mask. Go Winnipeg!”

Many people the Free Press spoke with on Saturday said they found the continued high rate of mask use reassuring. Several noted their concerns about unvaccinated children under 12, as well as signs of fourth waves emerging across Canada driven by the more highly transmissible Delta variant.

“(I’m) not sure how this will all play out, but I was glad that at least for today, a busy grocery store was not too different,” said Joan Todd, who estimated that at least 98 per cent of staff and customers at a major grocery were masked on Saturday.

Dozens of Winnipeg businesses, meanwhile, announced their intention to continue with indoor masking and other social distancing rules that the province has now relaxed. On social media, many Winnipeggers wrote of deciding to vote with their dollars to support businesses that still encouraged mask use.

At St. Norbert Farmers Market, for instance, shopper Lilian Bonin was dismayed to notice some vendors going without masks. “I didn’t buy anything from the vendors that were unmasked,” she said. “I just can’t support them anymore, and I have been going weekly for years.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca