Despite the government’s plea for everyone to wear face masks indoors, mask wearing is hit and miss around the motu.
Airports report high use of masks but it’s a different story in many stores and council buildings around the country.
Photo: AFP
Although there are some places where everyone is masked, in others there are no masks in sight.
Some local leaders have been relaxed about it too, appearing without masks in social media posts and at council meetings.
This council meeting in Rotorua saw a mixed response among councillors and citizens to mask use last month.
Photo: LDR / Felix Desmarais
The government’s Covid-19 guidelines encourage people to wear a face mask whenever they leave the house.
But take a look around the streets of Aotearoa and it is clear that is happening in some places – but certainly not everywhere.
People mostly wearing masks on Queen Street in Auckland. File photo
Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
RNZ reporters around the country asked local businesses about their mask policies.
Tina from Batika, a clothing shop in Napier, wore a mask but was not worried if others did not.
“If the customers don’t wear one, we’re OK … ’cause some people can’t, don’t want to stress people and it’s a choice,” she said.
She said she was wearing a mask “just for the simple fact of I don’t want to catch anything and let’s face it, it’s not just Covid, it’s winter as well.”
A streetwear shop in Nelson was easygoing about it.
“We’re pretty lax here; we tend to put a mask on if other people come into the store wearing one. It’s just respectful, but if people come in with no mask we don’t really care at all.”
Page and Blackmore Booksellers, just around the corner, had a different take.
“We ensure that everyone is wearing a mask or has an exemption. All our staff wear masks and none of us have had Covid. [Wearing a mask] has been an issue with some people, but they’ve got the choice to shop elsewhere,” a staff member said.
Staff at Napier surf clothing store Boardzone were not wearing masks and its manager declined to comment when approached by RNZ.
Napier City councillors – and staff – have been spotted not wearing masks in recent meetings.
Napier councillors are more relaxed about mask use now in contrast to when this photo was taken last October.
Photo: Supplied / Napier City Council / Sheree Wereta
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said it “all comes down to personal choice”.
She said she would not “dictate to people whether they wear a mask or not” and would also be making a personal decision as well.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise is in favour of “personal choice” over mask use.
Photo: Screenshot / Napier City Council video
It was same in the Buller District along the West Coast.
Mayor Jamie Cliene called mask wearing “tricky”.
“Certainly councillors aren’t wearing them… I still wear masks in what I would consider high-risk situations if I’m at something, but basically, it’s just personal choice now, I’m comfortable with that.”
Local body politicians urged to set an example
But Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said local politicians should be taking mask-wearing more seriously.
“This is a really important issue for preventing people from going to hospital unnecessarily but also, making sure that our gatherings are safe and that some of the high rate of absenteeism due to illness is mitigated, so I just encourage all community leaders to play their part in setting a good example.”
This was her response when asked if mask wearing should be a choice.
“All through the Covid-19 response, our success has depended on people playing their part. I just encourage everyone to take that approach – wearing masks at appropriate times is a really important thing we can all do.”
Dr Ayesha Verrall is masked up as she arrives at a media briefing with Dr Ashley Bloomfield earlier this year.
Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
She has previously said wearing masks can reduce new cases of the virus by as much as 53 percent.
Government Covid-19 guidelines say as a general rule, a person should wear a face mask whenever they were in a public indoor setting or if it was hard to keep a distance from people they did not know.
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