I was in the pit grandstand for the Estevan Motor Speedway’s program on Aug. 1.
A woman who was at the races with one of the drivers expressed her surprise that she hasn’t seen many people wearing masks since she arrived in Estevan. In her hometown, masks are much more common.
I asked her where she was from. She replied Swift Current. That answered any follow-up questions I might have had.
As we all know, the southwest region has been hit much harder by COVID-19 than southeast Saskatchewan, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that you’ll see more people wearing masks.
The debate of whether masks should be mandatory has been raging for weeks. Many think it should be a requirement when out in public, regardless of whether you’re indoors or outdoors, and even if you’re in a smaller market like Estevan, Weyburn or Carlyle.
Others think it should still be optional.
Regardless, you don’t see many people wearing masks in the southeast region. While it seems the majority, or close to it, want to see masks made mandatory, there’s a small fraction of us covering our noses and mouths when among the public.
I’ve worn a mask on just a handful of occasions. I’m not opposed to mask use. If masks become the requirement for the duration of the pandemic, I’m going to wear one. If I have to wear a mask to do my job, to access a building or cover an event, I’ll wear the mask.
If I have to wear a mask to get groceries or eat at a restaurant or shop for clothes, I’ll wear a mask.
If I don’t have to, I probably won’t.
Some people are complaining about how the mask infringes on their rights. They say they have the right to not wear a mask. Well, business owners have the right to ask them to leave, or to not serve them, if they don’t have a mask. And the rest of society has the right to snub them for their obstinance.
The mask debate in Saskatchewan was fuelled last week when the Ministry of Education released what it called the plan for a safe return to school for Saskatchewan students in September. It offered more specifics that what we saw from the government with its plan in early June.
The bottom line is that students will be going back to school Sept. 1, the government hopes to have it as close to normal as possible, and students and staff won’t be required to wear masks.
If the provincial situation regarding COVID deteriorates, then masks will become mandatory.
A lot of people aren’t happy. It’s not just the opposition and the union members panning the government on this one. For those who were debating whether to send their kids back to school Sept. 1, this could give them more reason to think their kids should stay at home.
The provincial government has spent recent months extolling the benefits of wearing masks. So has every health expert on the planet. And we’ve seen other provinces come forward with their requirement that at least students in higher grades will have to wear masks.
So you can imagine people’s amazement when the province said no masks.
And if they do decide to require masks during the school year because the pandemic worsens, will they have enough supplies to get masks to the students, teachers and staff members?
This is a situation that will be closely monitored in the final weeks of summer vacation, and once school returns in September.
Getting back to my own selfish stories, by the time you read this column, I’ll be on a much-needed (and some would say deserved) holiday with my parents. Our plan is to holiday through Saskatchewan, Alberta and southeast B.C., giving me the chance to see some areas that I haven’t seen in 20-30 years. Obviously there’s a risk with travel at this time, but we’re avoiding areas that have been COVID hotspots.
These are locations that many from this area have been to this summer, and have been just fine upon their return. I hope my holiday will have the same story.
But my folks have made it clear: when we’re out in public, we’re wearing masks.
And once I get back from my holiday, maybe wearing a mask will be second nature to me, kind of like looking for directional arrows at a grocery store.
Or maybe it will be something I will continue to do when I need to.
