Whose job is it to enforce mask use in indoor public spaces?

Covid fatigue has settled over the country, with people fed up and worn down by the pandemic and its restriction. When it comes to masks, more people, more often, are choosing to go without.

On Tuesday, members of the All Blacks were spotted without masks inside the Wellington Airport terminal – a place where the Government recommends masks be worn unless eating or drinking.

Whose job is it to enforce these regulations, anyway? At Wellington Airport, spokesperson Phil Rennie said staff kindly reminded people of the requirement to wear a mask and “99% of the time they respond positively”.

“If we do get an adverse response, our staff are trained to retract and can refer to the police if the situation escalates.”

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Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said the Government had created “a loophole the size of a 747 jumbo jet” with their mandates, as they didn’t enforce the rules themselves, and had made it so people could claim an exemption “for any reason”.

Advice to businesses was to leave it to police to enforce the rules, but “the reality is the police have much better things to do with their time”, Harford said.

Shop staff occasionally received “torrents of abuse” when they reminded people of the mandate. “It’s certainly not fair on the workers.”

Public transport providers made it clear at the beginning of the mandates that bus drivers and transport staff were not expected to enforce mask rules for passengers on public transport.

In schools, the only way for students to face consequences for failing to wear a mask is to make it part of the uniform through the school board.

Most schools had not gone to that extreme, according to NZ Principals’ Federation president Dr Cherie Taylor-Patel.

Last month mask use had fallen dramatically, with only a third of customers actually wearing them in-store, and it was time the retail mandate was removed.

The Government recently doubled down on pleas to wear a mask, but “I don’t think that’s made a big impact”, Harford said.

Anybody who failed to comply with face covering rules as outlined in the Covid-19 Public Health Response (Protection Framework) Order 2021 and Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 could be fined, a police spokesperson said.

Police took a graduated response and common sense understanding to any situation involving masks, the spokesperson said. This included engaging, communicating and educating people on the requirements, and encouraging compliance.

Should compliance still be an issue after that, the next step would be to warn when offences are repeated or are sufficiently serious, and then, as a last resort, use enforcement.