Unvaccinated children a factor for Manitoba businesses keeping mandatory mask policies
The looming end to the province’s mandatory mask mandate is not sitting well with some Manitobans.
Starting Saturday, face coverings used to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 will no longer be mandatory in indoor public places — only recommended.
Businesses and organizations can choose to continue requiring masks and people can still choose to wear one. Many are doing exactly that.
At St. Vital Park, Doris Mooney and her grandchildren do not need to wear a face covering because they are outside. Starting Saturday the province will no longer require people to wear one indoors either, but Mooney, who’s fully vaccinated, still plans to mask up in order to protect others from the more contagious Delta variant.
“Of course to make sure my grandchildren don’t get it because they can’t be vaccinated,” said Mooney.
The province unveiled the move Tuesday as part of a broader reopening plan amid high vaccination rates and low case counts.
Instead the province said wearing a mask in indoor public places is now “strongly recommended” for everyone who’s not immunized, including children under 12.
The move surprised Dorota Blumczyńska, the CEO of the Manitoba Museum, who said she expected it would be one of the last measures to go.
“What we can do here at the Manitoba Museum is we can continue to require masks and that’s our contribution to our shared safety,” Blumczyńska said.
The museum is reopening for the first time in months on Thursday under the current health orders.
When the new orders take effect Saturday, Blumczyńska said the museum will keep a mandatory mask policy for visitors in place for anyone five years of age and older.
“And that’s in large part because so many children enjoy this space and we know that many in our communities are still unvaccinated,” Blumczyńska said. “And we have a shared responsibility to keep them safe.”
Paul Clerkin, a co-owner of Stone Angel Brewing, said all taproom staff have been fully vaccinated but will continue to wear masks while serving people in the taproom and on the patio. Clerkin said the business will keep tables spread out and require customers to wear face coverings when they’re not seated, a move made in part for parents whose children are not yet eligible to be immunized.
“I think people like that will be looking at bars and restaurants that maintain social distancing and masks as places for them that is safe to go with their children,” Clerkin said.
The brewery will also be reserving indoor seating for fully vaccinated customers even they’re no longer required by the province to check people’s immunization status.
“It means the businesses are now responsible for doing something the government should be doing themselves,” Clerkin said. “It means if there’s any pushback the bars and restaurants no longer have the ‘well, it’s a provincial rule’ to fall back on.”
On Tuesday, Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief public health officer, urged people to patient and kind with others. When asked about kids who can’t be vaccinated Roussin reiterated something he’s said throughout the pandemic.
“The younger children are certainly much less at risk of severe outcomes or much less able to spread this virus,” Roussin said.
Other health experts argue mandatory masking should continue to protect unvaccinated children.
“We wear masks primarily to protect other people,” said Dr. Anand Kumar, an intensive care physician and infectious disease specialist. “I think children who can’t be vaccinated need to be protected and the best way to protect them is to continue public health measures, particularly masking.”
That’s what Mooney plans to do even though she doesn’t have to.
“We don’t want anybody to get sick because there’s so many deaths already with COVID,” Mooney said.”
The Manitoba Museum will require eligible people to be fully vaccinated to get in over the next two days. However, starting Saturday, as per provincial rules, people who are not vaccinated will also be allowed in as long as they are wearing a mask.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.