Some businesses in the La Ronge region are keeping masks mandatory after provincial COVID-19 restrictions are lifted on Sunday.
Keethanow Group of Businesses will be keeping all restrictions in place in their stores in La Ronge, Hall Lake and Sucker River.
Dennis Caplette, the Group’s general manager, said they want to ensure their customers are safe while shopping in their stores.
“As a group of businesses, we have a responsibility to our customers to ensure that the shopping environments that they come to are safe,” he said. “Until we start seeing concrete steps that really show that COVID is under control, I think out of the safety for the customer and safety for our staff it’s probably a pretty good idea to continue with these measures.”
Caplette said some of the staff were hesitant to work without masks on or serve customers who aren’t wearing one.
“I think it’s a sense of security and safety for the staff so I think it’s something that we need support our staff with.”
He said they are planning to lift their restrictions in 90 days but will make a decision closer to that time.
Penny’s Hair Design and Missinipe Broadcast Corporation made their decisions citing low vaccination rates in the north.
Other stores in the tri-communities, like Home Hardware and Giant Tiger, are making masks optional after Sunday.
As of July 8, there were 136 active cases of COVID-19 combined in the three Far North regions.
(PHOTO: Keethanow Gas Bar in Air Ronge is one of the stores managed by Keethanow Group of Businesses. Photograph by Sam Campling.)