As St. Albertans get used to new rules requiring them to wear masks inside public buildings, opinions on the rules run the gamut from positive to negative.
The Gazette polled people outside the St. Albert Centre mall Monday to get a sense of how they're feeling about the mask mandate, which came into effect on Saturday.
Sarah Ryan said she was happy to see the mandate take effect because it could push more people to wear masks in public.
“It seems like the people who do not wear masks are the odd ones out now, whereas before, it was flipped,” she said. “It’s quite refreshing to see that.”
As someone who works in a hospital, Ryan said wearing a mask is just part of her everyday life. Masks are about protecting other people, she said.
“It’s really safe. It’s something health care professionals have worn for decades and it’s never affected us in any way,” she said. “I think it’s very important to wear (a mask).”
Alyssa Frew said she is complying with all safety measures, but she’s worried the mandate will be in place for years without an exit clause. St. Albert had zero confirmed active cases of COVID-19 when the bylaw was passed on Aug. 4.
“There’s nothing safer than zero cases. So unless the (World Health Organization) says the pandemic is over, what is safer than that?” Frew asked.
On Tuesday, before the province updated its daily statistics, there was one active case in St. Albert. The city has seen 41 cases so far, with one person dying from the virus.
Even though she and her family can socially distance from others inside facilities like Servus Place, Frew said she is bothered that they still have to wear masks within their own cohort.
“We’ve cancelled our Servus Place membership over that,” she said.
Frew said she would have liked to see a threshold in the bylaw to indicate some kind of endpoint to the mandate. Some municipalities in Alberta, such as Strathcona County, passed a bylaw requiring masks only once the cases in their area reach a certain amount.
“I guess it's an extra barrier, but with zero cases around, and social distancing and hand sanitizing, I think it's (already) extremely safe.”
Scott Hughes said he wears a face covering to protect the people around him, including his young kids. Yes, it can be uncomfortable, but it’s not about him, he said.
“I was just in (the mall) a moment ago and listened to some guy say, ‘Masks are dumb, how dare we.’ So that guy theoretically got in contact within six feet of 50 people within the time he’s been in the mall, and if he were a carrier, what would happen?” Hughes said.
“Any of those people could have an underlying health condition that you don’t know about, and they may look just as healthy as the next person. It’s just about taking precautions.”
Widespread compliance
The City of St. Albert says a majority of residents put on a mask at indoor public spaces over the first weekend the bylaw was in effect.
Municipal enforcement officers patrolled several areas of the city over the weekend, including recreation centres and businesses.
Aaron Giesbrecht, manager of policing services, said peace officers issued 15 warnings related to people not wearing masks. Officers also spent time informing residents of the new bylaw and the regulations that come with it.
One officer was dedicated to making proactive patrols, while two others made their rounds in between responses to regular call volumes.
"The reporting from the officers indicated that we didn't have any major concerns with that education component. The people that they spoke to
were generally accepting of the conversation and education," Giesbrecht said.
"Some of the people advised that they simply forgot to bring a mask, and the others, the minority of them, weren't aware of the bylaw itself."
No $100 fines were issued throughout the long weekend, he said. An officer will decide whether to give someone a ticket if they feel like the person still won't wear one after being educated about the bylaw, but that happens on a "case-by-case" basis.
If the person is exempt, they should let the officer know, and those conversations won't go into too much detail, he said.
"So it's really a judgment call that's going to get made by the officer at the time when they're dealing with the person," Giesbrecht said.
Officers did not receive any calls related to serious harassment or intimidation between people wearing masks and people going without.
"We know that through city employees that have been in city facilities, there's been a couple of instances that they've reported that there were some discussions
between customers or patrons that were within there. But the city employees were able to help de-escalate those situations – they never got to a point that required any kind of law enforcement intervention."
He said peace officers will continue to help St. Albertans understand and adopt the new mandatory mask requirements, but this first weekend was a good start.
"Generally speaking, I think it went really well from hearing from the officers about how the community reacted with compliance."
