Gateway Mall and the businesses within have had to get used to mandatory masking all over again in recent weeks. (Rob Mahon/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Businesses and Masks

Prince Albert businesses readjusting to returning restrictions

Sep 20, 2021 | 4:00 PM

The public health orders brought in by the provincial government as a response to surging COVID-19 cases aren’t exactly new, even though it’s been months since Saskatchewan had to deal with them.

As such, local businesses have made the switch fairly quickly.

Mandatory masks in all public places were the norm for businesses until July 11 and is once again following the orders earlier this month. Proof of vaccination is also something select businesses are going to have to prepare for.

“I think they were slightly overdue,” said Malcolm Jenkins, owner of Prince Albert’s Canadian Tire and Party City. “When the restrictions were lifted…we retained masking in the store. We asked our staff and they felt more comfortable retaining masks.”

Customers were recommended to wear masks but not required to. Now, the province has turned it into a requirement for any local business or indoor public place.

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“This thing is not going away by itself and we’ve got to take some heavy measures,” said Jenkins. “I think we took our foot off the gas too soon, so I’m not surprised to see it going back. We fully support masking in enclosed buildings.”

Though social media is littered with examples of people expressing their anger over mandatory masks, Jenkins said he’s not worried about potential pushback against masking. Other stores are finding the pushback minimal so far.

“Of course, there are always people who aren’t comfortable with the whole mask mandate,” said Sharon Faul, general manager of Gateway Mall, “but our staff has been very successful in dealing with those folks and explaining that we’re only following the protocols that the province has put in place. Things have run fairly smoothly, considering.”

While the mall and the businesses inside have had a tough year navigating COVID-19, this latest shift in the rules won’t change much for them. Faul said they haven’t heard anything about needing to show proof of vaccination to enter the mall, though they’ll keep a close eye on the latest public health orders.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a major impact,” Faul said. “We have gone back to masking as per the government’s request and new COVID protocols. We continued with our hand sanitization stations and just felt that was prudent for our businesses.”

The province set a record for new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday with 543. There were 519 new cases of the virus today.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP