Mask end ‘very welcome’

DUNEDIN hospitality businesses are excited by the prospect that mask mandates at bars and restaurants could end soon.

With changes to the Government’s Covid traffic light protection framework signalled, Dunedin hospitality providers spoken to by the Otago Daily Times over the weekend were ecstatic about the prospect of mask rules easing.

The ODT revealed on Friday the Government had called for feedback within 24 hours from disability support providers about a proposal to ‘‘significantly narrow’’ where masks had to be worn.

The present Orange traffic light settings are also due to be reviewed by Cabinet next Monday.

Hospitality Association Dunedin branch president Mark Scully said a relaxation of the requirement for hospitality staff to wear masks would be ‘‘very welcome’’.

Very few customers chose to wear masks and it seemed ‘‘a bit crazy’’ that large numbers of customers could converse with each other unmasked, but not to the relatively fewer number of staff members.

‘‘It appears to be inconsistent,’’ Mr Scully said.

Dropping the requirement would give people choice, he said.

‘‘We certainly wouldn’t say to staff they couldn’t wear a mask, but a lot of people would choose not to wear them.’’

Whether a customer or staff member chose to wear a mask, that choice would be respected, but many people were feeling safe after having boosters or having caught Covid recently, he said.

No7 Balmac and Esplanade owner Katrina Toovey said her team were ‘‘really eager’’ to be without masks as they were tiring to wear over a full eighthour shift.

Some staff felt strongly that the masks made it difficult for them to breathe.

‘‘We just allow them to exercise their own discretion about that,’’ Ms Toovey said.

Craft Bar & Kitchen owner John Macdonald said his staff were still wearing masks as required.

‘‘If they [the Government] deem it’s ready to be dropped, we’d be happy to do so,’’ he said.

The Craic Irish Tavern owner Claire Grenfell owner also agreed the move would be a step in the right direction.

When things got really busy and loud, communicating with customers was challenging.

‘‘The bar person can’t understand the customer, the bar person can’t understand the customer.

‘‘Its amazing how much we lip read,’’ she said.

It was unlikely to make much of a difference to levels of staff sickness and her fingers were crossed for a change, she said.

PLANS for possible changes in our Covid19 controls have already struck a bum note.

We are told the Government expects to reveal any changes in the next few weeks, but somehow that meant it could not offer the disability support sector reasonable time to respond to proposals which would see mask requirements removed from all but the most highrisk health settings.

Indeed, as this newspaper reported, some organisations representing those with disabilities were not consulted at all, while others were given less than 24 hours to respond to the proposal by the Ministry of Disabled People.

There is no excuse for this, and it will not give the sector any confidence anything it contributes to the decisionmaking will be taken seriously.

Critics will understandably seize on this as another example of arrogance from the Government and a lipservice approach to consultation and listening and responding sensibly to valid concerns (despite last week’s prompt backdown after the furore over the proposal to apply Goods and Services Tax to KiwiSaver fees).

Many in the community will view reducing required mask wearing as freeing, but those living with conditions making them particularly susceptible to serious illness or death should they contract Covid19 will be fearful.

Lowering the number of public settings in which mask wearing is expected will mean restricting the places those at high risk feel they can access safely.

This would not be such an issue if we had more wellventilated public spaces which were clearly identified as such, so people could then choose whether to enter them or not.

However, we seem a long way from that.

It might be tempting to think the vulnerable would be fine if they just stuck to mask wearing themselves, but wearing a mask when others around you are not lowers your level of protection.

Mask use will need to continue in some settings outside of places providing healthcare.

The issue of which settings those should be is trickier. It would seem sensible for masks to be used on public transport such as buses and trains, but there may be pressure for removing requirements for plane travel. Many countries no longer require masks on planes. The industry says air filtering on planes means the risk is low, but others point out getting on and off planes can still be risky for passengers.

Retail NZ is urging the Government to drop mask mandates for its sector.

Chief executive Greg Harford said compliance with the mandate was low. A members survey suggested only a third of customers were compliant. The law was not enforced, and there was a ‘‘loophole the size of a 747 jumbo jet that allows anyone to selfidentify as exempt for almost any reason’’. Some shoppers became aggressive when asked to mask up.

Regardless of what is eventually decided, some people will now feel comfortable with continued mask use in a variety of settings, and we hope they will not attract abuse for that.

While Covid19 case numbers have reduced considerably recently, the disease has not magically disappeared. Reinfections have been increasing and the number of community cases are also likely to be much higher than reported. Some people are still dying from it or needing treatment in our hospitals which are struggling with shortstaffing and snowed under with high presentations from those with winter illnesses.

Ensuring vaccinations/ boosters are up to date, using rapid antigen tests (Rats), and isolating when you are sick remain important.

Whatever is eventually decided by the Government for this next stage of its pandemic management will need to be well communicated and easily understood. It should also be comprehensive enough to clearly cover what we can expect should there be a dramatic surge in case numbers or new variants which might require a different approach.