Grocer reportedly gives up enforcing masks following issues with customers

By KENDALL KING, Local Journalism Reporter on October 9, 2021.

If you’ve recently visited Medicine Hat’s Costco, you may have noticed other customers without masks. Joanne Schuh noticed mask-less individuals as soon as she entered the warehouse this past Tuesday.

Schuh was taken aback, as Alberta’s provincial mask mandate has been in effect since Sept. 4, and Costco Wholesale has had a long-standing mask policy in effect.

As Schuh and her husband proceeded into the warehouse, they noticed more and more people without masks.

“We stopped counting at 18 (people),” Schuh told the News.

That was when she and her husband asked a manager why customers were allowed in the building without a mask, violating both the provincial mandate and Costco’s own Face Mask Policy, which states, “Members and guests must wear a face mask that covers their mouth and nose at all times … Entry to Costco will be granted only to those wearing a face mask or face shield.”

However, Schuh says a manager told her Costco has decided, as a company, to no longer enforce the mask mandate. She says she and her husband chose to leave the store, as they no longer felt comfortable shopping there.

“It’s very upsetting,” said Schuh. “My husband and I have been 100% isolated for almost two years, doing the right thing. When we see such a reckless disregard for something as simple as a mask mandate … It’s very disheartening.”

When contacted by the News, the local Costco declined to provide comment, however upon visiting the warehouse, an employee affirmed that Costco stores in Canada are no longer enforcing a mask mandate. This means that, while the company does encourage masks and offers them to customers upon entering the store, employees will no longer be approaching customers without masks nor will they deny them the ability to shop.

The employee told the News the reason for this change is because staff members at the Medicine Hat Costco, and others across the country, had been facing harassment and verbal abuse from certain customers who were not complying with the mask mandate. The employee says staff safety was a main concern.

Rod Thompson, staff sergeant and acting inspector with the Medicine Hat Police Service, confirmed to the News that all businesses within Medicine Hat are required to uphold the provincial mask mandate and other public health orders.

“The Chief Medical Officer for Alberta brought back in the public health orders and one of those is the public health order pertaining to masks in public places,” he said.

Despite this, Thompson understands safety concerns.

“I know that there are some cases where people are, and businesses are, enforcing and trying to do their best to make sure that people abide by the public health orders … It’s unfortunate at times that some employees are facing harassment or resistance … They don’t need that type of stress and grief.”

Thompson says there are different ways of approaching a situation where public health orders, like the mask mandate, are not being followed.

“If it’s a complaint or inquiry from the public, and it pertains to a business not adhering to a public health order, then AHS deals with that. You can go online and contact them through the ‘Submit a Complaint’ form about specific businesses and the circumstances in which they’re not adhering to the public health order.”

“But, let’s say it’s a business that is adhering to it and let’s say they have a patron or customer (who) was not compliant, then … that’s where we would get involved.”

Fortunately, Thompson says, there have been few occasions when MHPS has had to initiate enforcement.

“We know that it is a very divisive topic and we know that people are struggling with it,” Thompson said. “We just want to take the patient approach and understand that people are having a hard time with it. So our preferred method of dealing with it is education.”

He encourages the public to remain respectful.

Part of that respect, Schuh feels, is considering other people in public places and their level of comfort. Wearing masks, for Schuh, is one of the few things people can do to keep safe in an unpredictable and uncomfortable time.

“COVID reaches far greater than just contracting the virus,” said Schuh. “We are to the point where we’re nervous to drive in our car for fear of a car accident … because our ICU and our hospital is overwhelmed.”

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