Health experts say it’s too early to end mandatory masking in stores, gyms and restaurants — but many businesses plan to ditch the masking rule
Wondering whether you'll still be wearing a mask to go grocery shopping, visit the mall or work out in the gym in a couple of weeks? You're not alone.
After the Ontario government announced Wednesday that it was eliminating COVID-19 mask mandates in most settings as of March 21, businesses across the province are now being forced to decide whether or not to continue with their own masking requirements.
That debate comes against a backdrop of health experts concerned the mandate is being lifted too soon, and a grocery workers' union urging customers to keep masking requirements to protect staff.
It really is split down the middle. There are a lot of loud, passionate voices on both sides of the issue," said Ryan Mallough, Ontario regional director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
In a recent poll, the CFIB found that 53 per cent of its members were in favour of eliminating mask mandates, while 45 per cent were against, said Mallough.
That comes amid a rise, Mallough said, in a vocal minority of customers chafing at COVID restrictions, including the vaccine passport which was made optional for most settings March 1.
There has been a significant uptick in bad customer behaviour over the last three or four months," said Mallough. The worst one I know about was when someone was told they couldn't come into a gym because of the vaccine passport, and they went around and licked all the door handles."
Some businesses, Mallough said, want to continue checking customers' vaccination status, and having customers wear masks. Others couldn't be happier to get rid of all the requirements. Many are grappling with what to do, as the end of the province-wide mandate looms.
I think there are going to be a lot of discussions over the next few weeks," Mallough said.
At GoodLife Fitness's Ontario gyms, customers and staff will have the option of wearing a mask, but won't be forced to wear one if they don't want to, said vice-president of operations Tracy Matthews.
Some members may wish to continue wearing a mask while in the club, and we support their decision to do so. We understand that each person will have a different level of comfort as we ease into these changes," Matthews said in an emailed statement.
Cineplex still hasn't decided exactly what approach it will take at the company's Ontario theatres, said spokesperson Samantha Shechter.
We are pleased to see restrictions continue to ease in Ontario and are currently reviewing what the announcement means for movie-lovers in the province," Shechter said.
Retailers are worried about the potential for more conflict between front-line staff and customers - and even between customers - no matter what individual businesses choose to do, said Retail Council of Canada spokesperson Michelle Wasylyshen.
A lot of our members are concerned about the possibility of more aggression like there was when mask mandates first came in," said Wasylyshen.
In an informal poll of members, the Retail Council of Canada found a split, with some retailers considering keeping a mask rule past March 21, and others indicating they'd like to ditch the rule. But there was almost-universal agreement, Wasylyshen said, that staff and customers should feel free to wear a mask if they want to.
It's got to be about respecting the choices that people and businesses make. Everyone's comfort levels are different," Wasylyshen said.
Front-line workers are being put at risk by the government's decision to lift the mask mandate, argued Wayne Hanley, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1006A, which represents 35,000 workers across the province.
Due to the lack of agreement within the scientific community, we are concerned that the Ontario government is moving too quickly to remove the mask mandate in retail settings," said Hanley, whose members work in everything from grocery stores to cannabis shops and bookstores.
Hanley urged customers and workers to keep masking up.
Our members' health and safety is our top priority. We ask that customers continue to wear masks to help protect front-line workers who have proudly served their communities throughout the pandemic. We encourage all members to continue to wear a mask," Hanley said.
While Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said he agreed with lifting the mask mandate, other medical experts say it's just too soon.
Of course it's too early. We've been saying that for weeks now," said Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious disease expert at the University Health Network. I don't understand why masking restrictions would be lifted in any indoor environment right now, frankly."
Sharkawy said lifting the mandate sends the wrong message with the highly-infectious Omicron BA2 variant circulating and there are still large numbers of people who haven't been fully vaccinated.
It doesn't matter what the intention is, the signal that's coming out is this is no longer necessary because we've done well enough.' And you compound that by saying schools no longer even need symptom screening or cohorting? The message is pretty clear to a lot of people that this is over, and that's dangerous," said Sharkawy.
Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Queen's University, said that a key indicator of COVID spread - traces of the virus in wastewater - is no longer dropping like it was in February.
Things aren't getting any lower. And in fact there are some early signals that things are coming back up again," said Evans, adding that the positivity rates in PCR tests are also on the rise.
After the province limited access to PCR testing, there were three secondary indicators of community spread, Evans said: wastewater, test positivity rates, and the number of outbreaks. In the Kingston area, only outbreaks are falling, Evans added.
When we look at those three indicators, a couple of them are going in the wrong direction and that should make you pause in terms of just taking it a bit slower," said Evans.
Josh Rubin is a Toronto-based business reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @starbeer