Video showing crowding at Chinook Centre raises concerns about COVID-19
Black Friday shopping at Calgary's largest mall was in full swing this year despite new public-health orders meant to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Alberta.
Calgary university student Taylor Tuffnell, who works part-time at a Chinook Centre retailer, said she was shocked by the flurry of visitors to the mall Friday.
“There were a lot of waves of people chatting in the hallways, blocking everything,” Tuffnell said.
“People are flouting the regulations and flocking to the malls because they don't want to risk the fines of having indoor gatherings, in my opinion anyway.”
Tuffnell raised the issue of crowding at malls Friday evening, when she posted a video to Twitter showing large groups of people walking through Chinook Centre. The viral post now has more than 2,000 engagements on the platform.
“I posted the video just to hold our government accountable,” she said. “I'm not too worried about myself, but if I become exposed, my grandparents are elderly, my mom has high blood pressure, my dad has asthma. An exposure could potentially wipe out my whole family.”
Alberta is in the midst of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, having recorded more than 1,000 new infections daily in the past 10 days, including a record 1,731 cases reported Saturday.
The Alberta government imposed a series of new measures last week in an attempt to combat rising case counts, including at businesses.
According to Alberta Health, retail businesses in malls, and the malls themselves, are allowed to remain open with capacity limited to 25 per cent of their fire code occupancy.
It's the responsibility of mall owners to ensure there's a process to meet that capacity limit, the province said.
Cadillac Fairview, the company that owns and operates Chinook Centre, said it has worked to combat crowding following government restrictions.
“The health and safety of our community of guests, clients and employees is our primary concern, and we continue to follow guidance from all levels of government and public health officials,” the company said in a statement Saturday.
“Regarding the Province of Alberta's new restrictions for shopping centres, we have been actively monitoring capacity levels throughout the holiday shopping season.”
A Calgary police representative reached Saturday said officers attended the mall Friday and escorted a group out of the building.
No charges were laid, as police said the focus was on public safety and education, but they added that if the same people were to crowd the mall again, fines would be given. Officers maintained a presence at the mall Saturday.
Black Friday this year was different than in the past because it featured more people hanging out in the mall rather than shopping, Tuffnell said. She said she supports a wider retail shutdown as long as governments would provide adequate supports for workers.
“I love my job, I want to go to work every day, but being in these kinds of situations and being put in these kinds of situations is so scary,” she said.
Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu said Friday the Alberta government expected police services to ramp up enforcement of COVID-19 public-health orders, with more peace officers now authorized to issue fines starting at $1,000 to people who are “blatantly non-compliant” with rules.