Wear the Mask

On Monday, several cities and municipalities in Ontario, including Ottawa, mandated a mask policy for enclosed public spaces, including restaurants and pubs, shopping malls and retail shops, places of worship, sports facilities and gyms, and more. You can find full details on the Ottawa Public Health Web site.

For me, this mandate comes far too late but is welcome nevertheless. As someone who stresses about people who ignore the two-metre rule and have made no attempts to protect me and other shoppers from the spread of unwanted and dangerous germs, knowing that everyone must cover up gives me some relief.

On Monday, for example, I went to the Ottawa Civic Hospital for my routine steroid injection for my arthritic foot. I wore my cloth mask and was screened at the entrance before being allowed to proceed to the radiology clinic. Seeing everyone in masks, most people respecting the distancing guidelines, and using hand sanitizer, I felt protected. I even welcomed the touch of the doctor and nurse as I was positioned on the x-ray bed and received my shots.

I haven't had physical contact with anyone outside my wife and kids since March.

I'm glad that everyone is now placed on the same page. We're all in this together: we all need to do our part to flatten the curve and reduce the spread.

Sure, masks aren't comfortable. But I'm sure ventilators are even less so.

There are some exceptions to the mask rule. For example, if you are physically unable to wear a mask, you're not required to do so. If you have some sort of chronic condition, such as asthma, where breathing can already be difficult, you are exempt from the rule. If you suffer a mental-health issue where the covering of your face causes you anxiety, rest assured that no one is going to make you wear a mask.

Whatever the reason, and you have no obligation to disclose it, you cannot be forced to wear the mask. As a society, our public health officials have left it to us to use our so-called common sense and make our own decision.

This sounds like a giant loophole to me.

I don't begrudge anyone with physical or mental limitations, who simply cannot wear a mask. But I also think that people with limiting conditions should not be able to place those at risk, who are wearing a mask.

Remember: you wear a mask primarily to keep from spreading the germs yourself. The mask offers little protection to you. By not wearing a mask, you are making a conscious decision to place everyone around you at risk.

Frontline people aren't paid enough to allow you to place them at risk. Part-time students are not your roulette wheel. And they certainly shouldn't be the ones to enforce the rule.

I hope and believe that the vast majority of people will obey the rule and don a mask indoors. But I fear that naysayers will lean on the loophole with some misguided notion that they won't have their freedom curtailed (ugh...).

So, I have a couple of proposals, both of which will hopefully make shopping less convenient for those who want to flout the rule:

• Stores can designate certain mask-free hours—either within the first hour of opening or the last hour before closing. Staff is reduced to a minimum and the two-metre distancing is severely enforced. A limit to the number of customers allowed in the store is tremendously reduced: depending on the size of the store, the limit could be from two to 10 people at a time.
  
  This option, no doubt, would involve hiring trained security at the doors and within the store to enforce the rules. It's not the best solution, but it might discourage those who are trying to bend the rules. And I don't really like this idea because it puts staff at undue risk.



• Maintain curbside pickup for customers who cannot wear a mask. Allow only customers with masks inside. Make this option clearly visible to your outdoor lineup and at the entrances (I'm assuming that customers will still be limited to a certain number, even with masks). Shop owners, remember: it's your responsibility to protect your staff and customers and that responsibility trumps anyone's right to be within your place of business.

And no one has a right to be in your store, anyway. Your store; your rules. No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service.

I truly hope that people just wear the damned mask and help get rid of this virus. To think that if this mandate had been proposed in March, we would have likely flattened the curve and could be well on the road to recovery. We may have even been able to lighten restrictions before summer, before we all were going bonkers over this lockdown.

Wear the damned mask.