Saskatoon café owner ponders whether to keep masks mandatory after restrictions lift
Saskatoon café owner ponders whether to keep masks mandatory after restrictions lift
SASKATOON -
Jimmy Oneschuk, who owns Museo Coffee Roasters in Saskatoon, said he hasn’t decided whether he will keep the mask mandate in effect at his store even after the province lifts it, but the measure has made his staff feel more safe.
“My staff have more confidence because of the mask mandate, so it’s really about if you’re dealing with 200 people a day, the chances someone might have COVID is pretty high, so you have to reduce that probability somehow,” he told CTV News.
Oneschuk said he has been taking it day-by-day and monitoring the caseload in the province – something that could impact his decision to continue asking customers and staff to mask up while in his store.
However, he has concerns about whether people will respect that decision.
“In the past, it has been very hard to ask people to do that when they are going against what the government has said,” Oneschuk said.
“There was a point in I think October where they allowed seating again and we didn’t allow seating but some of our competitors had brought back seating and then suddenly everybody expects us to also offer seating, but we were like ‘no, our space is 11 feet wide so we can’t.’”
The Saskatchewan government said it will lift public health orders, including mandatory masking and gathering limits, three weeks after 70 per cent of people age 12 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – and at least three weeks after Step Two.
If that threshold is reached by June 20, the province said all restrictions could be lifted by July 11.
The government said that while masks will no longer be required at this stage, people may still wear masks based on their own comfort level and requirements may be in effect in workplaces at the discretion of owners.
As of Wednesday, 67 per cent of people 12 and up have received their first dose.
As the province inches closer to that target, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) is urging people to “proceed with caution.”
“COVID is still very active in Saskatchewan and now we have the Delta variant which is also growing in case numbers in Saskatchewan, that’s highly contagious,” SUN president Tracy Zambory said.
“We have to look at all the metrics in front of us. And that’s how many cases of variants of concern have we got going, how much hospitalization do we have, how many people are in the intensive care units? We still have people passing away in this province from COVID.”
Zambory said there is concern that the province could see a spike in Delta variant cases, putting Saskatchewan in a position where it has to roll back on its reopening plan, similar to what has happened in the United Kingdom.
“Rather than having to get ourselves into a scenario of having to pull back when there’s been a lot of promises made, people are getting excited about certain events that might take place, we just need to slow it down a bit, proceed with caution, making sure that at the very bottom of all of this, it is keeping the people of Saskatchewan healthy and out of hospital.”
Dr. Cory Neudorf, a public health physician and professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, agreed that it’s too soon to be considering lifting the mandatory mask mandate.
He said the province should wait until more people have been vaccinated with both doses.
“There really isn’t a big harm in keeping (the mask mandate) for a little while longer until we get those second dose immunization rates up high enough. So that would be the message for people is if we can, try to keep that up for a little while more into the summer until we’re sure that we’re safe,” he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Ottawa Thursday evening for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
Zellers has opened the first of 25 new locations within Hudson's Bay stores across the country. The Canadian retail chain launched 12 stores in Ontario and Alberta Thursday, along with a new e-commerce website.
A recent report from the province’s privacy commissioner says the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan Inc. (MACSI) failed to take appropriate steps after patient treatment files were discovered in a recycling bin.
Manitoba First Nation police have arrested a man connected with a shooting on March 19 on Long Plain First Nation that resulted in the community going on lockdown.
Manitoba’s labour force is growing at a rate to supply enough workers for available positions into 2026, according to the province’s labour market outlook.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
Edmonton-born actor Holly Cinnamon describes the Emmy Award winning HBO series Succession as a "cutthroat version" of The Office and "a joy" to work on. She makes her on-screen debut in the upcoming fourth and final season of the show.
An Ontario man said he was shocked when his truck was stolen not once but twice, and the second time it was taken he was surprised to discover he was no longer covered for theft.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Ottawa Thursday evening for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
Following a court appearance Thursday, a B.C. woman facing more than 20 charges – including manslaughter – in connection with alleged druggings of men who used escort services was remanded into custody.
The man killed in West Vancouver earlier this week was a retired urologist who was involved in several legal disputes over valuable real estate, CTV News has learned.
For the first time, the owner of a building in Old Montreal has responded to questions about the fire — through his lawyer — addressing allegations that the building was unsafe.
The political class at the National Assembly has condemned the 'violent' and 'hateful' remarks that columnist Gilles Proulx allegedly made about Quebec solidaire MNAs during Richard Martineau's show on Qub radio in recent weeks.
A Victoria man’s life of crime has turned into one of survival, hope and advocacy amid ongoing conversations in the community about how best to tackle public safety matters.
The Tim Houston PC government remains firm in their promise they'll fix the health-care system by spending more taxpayer money on health than any previous government before.
Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island are taking the federal government to court due to the decision to restrict the movement of P.E.I. seed potatoes.
The co-owners of a new liquidation store in North Bay, Samuel Quesnel and Chloé Boivenue, say they want to bring a treasure hunt shopping experience to the city.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
The new provincial budget features items specific to southwestern Ontario, including a new English public elementary school in London, Ont. that will serve 556 students and include 88 licensed childcare spaces.
A young Strathroy, Ont. man believes there's a promising way forward in the effort to fight his disease. But, he's being told, right now, that path isn't open to him. Friends and family are stepping up to try and make a case for Kyle McPhee to receive immunotherapy treatments.
